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A Schoolmaster of Long Ago. 



OLD-TIME SCHOOLS 
AND SCHOOL-BOOKS 

By CLIFTON JOHNSON 




WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS 
COLLECTED BY THE AUTHOR 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
I9O4 

All rights reserved 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

APR 11 1904 

Copyright Entry 
CLASS 0> XXc. No 

y^cs f 



I 



Copyright, 1904, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up, electrotyped, and published April, 1904. 



A considerable portion of 
the material included in this 
volume was first published in 
The New England Maga- 
zine, The Congregational- 
ist, Frank Leslie's Popular 
Monthly, T/if: interior, 
I he bpring'field ''Republican, 
Goo.d, .Housekeeping, and 
I'he,:Ouilook.'\\ 



Norwood Press 
S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



?> 



Introductory Note 

The contrast between the dainty picture books 
that are provided to entice the school children of 
the present along the paths of knowledge, and the 
sparsely illustrated volumes conned by the little 
folk of two or three generations ago, is very great ; 
and yet the old books seemed beautiful to the 
children then, and the charm all comes back when 
a person of middle age or beyond happens on one 
of these humble friends of his youth. What an 
aroma of the far-gone days of childhood hovers in 
the yellow pages ! The scenes in the schoolroom 
rise in the memory, one is young again, and has 
:n gentle illusion the same feelings and the same 
juvenile companions as of old. 

But the pleasure of seeing the books of our 
schooldays is seldom experienced; for, once their 
work was done, they received scant care, and most 
of the multitude that were printed have perished 
utterly. The wear and tear of use and the acci- 
dents and exigencies of time have made way with 
them, and to-day one could hardly find the books 
he studied as a child save by long and patient 
search, and perhaps some of them not at all. My 



vi Introductory Note 

own collection of school-books has been largely- 
gathered by exploring the nooks and corners of the 
old bookshops from New England to South Caro- 
lina ; but many things I could not get, and I have 
been greatly aided in compiling this volume by the 
collections of various individuals and institutions. 
I am especially grateful to the American Antiqua- 
rian Society of Worcester, the Essex Institute of 
Salem, the Deerfield Museum, the Connecticut His- 
torical Society, and to Mr. Albert C. Bates of Hart- 
ford, and Mr. George A. Plimpton of New York. 
I also am much indebted to the Henry Barnard 
Collection, now at Hartford, but probably soon to 
be sold and transferred elsewhere — a collection 
which includes the American publications used in 
our schools from the beginnings down to 1850 
more completely than any other in existence. 

My readers will doubtless notice that I have 
dwelt on the educational history of Massachusetts 
rather than on that of any of its neighbors. This 
I have done because it seems to me to possess un- 
rivalled interest. Massachusetts has always been 
a pioneer in educational experiments, and where 
it has led the way the sister states have followed. 
Its experience has been a constant aid to them, and 
the attention it has given to education has always 
been far above the average for the whole country. 

CLIFTON JOHNSON. 

Hadley, Massachusetts. 



Contents 



Chapter 








Page 


I. 


Beginnings ...... I 


II. 


Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 


. 29 


III. 


The New England Primer . 


. . 69 


IV. 


The District Schools 




100 


V. 


Grammar Schools and Academies 






135 


VI. 


Fly-leaf Scribblings . 






151 


VII. 


Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 






167 


VIII. 


Other Spelling-books 






185 


IX. 


Primary Readers 






2 33 


X. 


Advanced Readers . . . 






265 


XI. 


Arithmetics .... 






301 


XII. 


The First American Geography . 






318 


XIII. 


Later Geographies . 






337 


XIV. 


Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text- 


books 




363 



t 



Two Illustrations 
selected from one hun- 
dred and sixty similar 
pictures in Paul Pres- 
ton's Book of Gym- 
nastics, 1847. 



ft 




A Whale. From Comly's A New Spelling-book, 1806. 



List of Illustrations 



Note. — The reproductions from old school-books are the same size as the 
originals unless otherwise stated beneath the engravings. All pictures not credited 
in the following list to individuals or societies are from the author's own collection. 



Page 
A Fly-leaf Scribble. From a Webster's The Little Reader's 

Assistant, 1 79 1, in the Henry Barnard School-book 

Collection, Hartford, Conn. ..... i 

A Schoolmaster of Long Ago .... Frontispiece 

A Decorative Pen. From the title-page of Emerson's First 

Class Reader, 1833 . . . . . Title-page 

Two Illustrations selected from 160 similar pictures in Paul 

Preston 1 s Book of Gymnastics, 1847 . . . viii 

A Whale. From Comly's A New Spelling-book, 1806 . ix 
A Melancholy Scene. From Town's Second Reader, 1848 xxii 
Schoolhouse erected in 1 649 at Dedham, Mass. From The 

New England Magazine ..... 7 

First Lesson Page of Comenius's Visible World. Owned by 

Mr. George A. Plimpton, New York . . -15 

Part of an Illustrated Alphabet in the Visible World. Owned 

by Mr. George A. Plimpton . . . , .17 



x List of Illustrations 

Page 
A Page showing th' ' Method of Teaching in the Visible 

World. Owned by Mr. George A. Plimpton . . 19 

Portion of the Title-page of a popular Text-book first pub- 
lished in 1596. Owned by Mr. George A. Plimpton 20 
Frontispiece to a Speller entitled A Rational Way of Teach- 
ing, 1688. Owned by Mr. George A. Plimpton . 21 
The School Dame ..... fodng 24 

A Typical Horn-book . . . . . . .26 

Revolving Alphabet. Owned by Mr. Albert C. Bates, 

Hartford, Conn. . . . . . .27 

A Salem Schoolhouse with Whipping-post in the near Street. 

From a drawing in the Essex Institute, made about 1 770 30 
Facsimile of Washington's Schoolboy Handwriting. From 

a manuscript in the National Archives . . .34 

One of the Log Schoolhouses still to be found in the South . 35 
Inkstand, Sandbox, and Bunch of Uncut Quills. Owned by 

the Museum at Deerfield^ Mass. . . . .37 

A Homemade Copy Book with a Wall-paper Cover. Owned 

by the Essex Institute . . . . . 39 

A Colonial Schoolmaster. From Judd's Margaret feeing 41 
Part of the Title-page of an Early Religious School-book. 

Owned by Mr. George A. Plimpton ... 45 

Noah's Ark as depicted in The History of Genesis. Owned 

by Mr. George A. Plimpton ..... 46 
Title-page of The Child's Weeks-work. Owned by Mr. 

George A. Plimpton ...... 47 

A Tree of Knowledge Frontispiece. From The London 

Spelling-Book, 1710. Owned by Mr. George A. 

Plimpton ........ 48 

An Illustrated Alphabet in The London Spelling-Book. 

Owned by Mr. George A. Plimpton ... 49 

The Fisherman with "a bird in the hand." From Dil- 

worth's A New Guide to the English Tongue. Henry 

Barnard Collection . , . « , .50 



List of Illustrations xi 

Page 



51 



The Waggoner and Hercules. From "^ilworth's A New 

Guide to the English Tongue. Henry Barnard Col- 
lection ........ 

The Ungrateful Adder. From Dilvvorth's A New Guide to 

the English Tongue. Henry Barnard Collection . 52 

Frontispiece to Fenning' s The Universal Spelling-Book 

facing 54 
The Town in Danger. From Fenning' s The Universal 

Spelling- Book . . . . . . .54 

The Truant Boys. From Fenning' s The Universal Spelling- 

Book ........ 56 

Virtuous Tommy gives Naughty Harry some Good Advice 

From Fenning' s The Universal Spelling-Book . . 57 

Frontispiece to The British Instructor ; " Being a Plain and 

Eafy Guide to the Englifh Language on a Plan Entirely 

New," London, 1763. Henry Barnard Collection . 58 
Selections from a Series of Alphabet Illustrations in The 

British Instructor. Henry Barnard Collection . . 59 

Frontispiece to Watts' 1 s Compleat Spelling-Book, 1770 facing 60 
An American Reprint of A New Bat tie door. Owned by 

Mr. George A. Plimpton . . . facing 63 - 

The Inside of the First Leaf of A New Battledoor. Owned 

by Mr. George A. Plimpton ..... 
Heading from a Manuscript Arithmetic of Colonial Days. 

Owned by Miss Alice Dickinson, Hadley, Mass. 
Page from a Manuscript Arithmetic of Colonial Days. 

Owned by Miss Alice Dickinson . . . 

Frontispiece and Title-page of a Colonial Arithmetic. Owned 

by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
Frontispiece to The Schoolmaster'' s Assistant 
Portion of Page from Fenning' s A New and Easy Guide to 

the Use of the Globes, 1760 ..... 
The Earliest Mention known of The New England Primer. 

From Newman's News from the Stars, Boston, 1690 . 



62 

63 
64 

65 
66 

68 



xii List of Illustrations 

Page 

A Characteristic Binding. Showing the oak sides with por- 
tions of the blue paper which was pasted over the wood 
still adhering. Owned by Mr. F. H. Coolbroth, 
Springfield, Mass. . . . . . -73 

Frontispiece to a Brookfield, Mass., Edition of 1828. Pub- 
lished by the firm which later became famous as the 
publishers of Webster's Dictionary. Owned by Mr. 
F. H. Coolbroth 74 

A Title-page. From the Henry Barnard Collection . . 75 

The First Spelling. From a primer owned by Mr. F. H. 

Coolbroth ........ 76 

Picture Alphabet of Religious Jingles . . . 78, 79 

An Alphabet including both Religious and Secular Jingles. 
From a primer printed in Boston about 1 800. Owned 
by Mr. Albert C. Bates . . . . 80, 8 1 

The Rogers Page. From the Webster Edition of 1843 . 83 

A Rude Primer Cut purporting to show John Rogers being 
turned at the Stake. From an edition of 1799, owned 
by Mr. Albert C. Bates 84 

The Butterfly and Crocodile. From an edition of about 

1785 owned by Mr. Albert C. Bates ... 86 

The Nightingale and Cuckow. From an edition of about 

1785, owned by Mr. Albert C. Bates . . -87 

One of Several Similar Pages of Illustrated Rhymes and 
Comments, in The Royal Primer, Worcester, Mass. , 
1787. Henry Barnard Collection . . . .88 

The Rewards of Virtue. From a copy of The Royal Primer 

in the Henry Barnard Collection .... 90 

Illustration to "The Hufbandman's Prayer" in a New 
England Primer of about 1785. Owned by Mr. 
Albert C. Bates .... ... 90 

Poem from a Charlestown, Mass., Edition of 1802, in the 

Henry Barnard Collection . . . . .91 



List of Illustrations xiii 

Page 

A Page from an Edition of about 1810. Owned by Mr. 

Albert C. Bates ....... 92 

Two Pictures. From Emerson's The Evangelical Primer, 

1810 . . . . . . . -93 

Three Selections from a Picture Alphabet in Fisher's A 

Youth's Primer, 181 7. Owned by the Essex 

Institute ....... 94, 95, 96 

A Vacation Visit from the Committeeman to consider 

Repairs . . . . . . facing 101 

An Old-time District Schoolhouse . . . . .103 

Plan of a Characteristic Schoolroom of 1840. From The 

New England Magazine . . . . .104 

A Teacher's Desk. From The New England Magazine . 105 
One of the Benches for the Older Pupils. From The New 

England Magazine . . . . . .106 

One of the Benches for the Smaller Pupils. From The New 

England Magazine . . . . . .106 

An Illustration from Jenkins' s Art of Writing, 1 8 1 3 . Owned 

by the Essex Institute . . . . . .109 

Slate, Inkstand, Writing-sand, and Ink-powder. Owned 

by the Worcester Antiquarian Society . . .110 

Quill Pens. Owned by the Connecticut Historical Society . in 
Exhibition Piece of a Writing Student. Owned by the 

Essex Institute . . . . . . .112 

Another Exhibition Piece. Owned by the Essex Institute . 113 
A Schoolroom Corner . . . . . . .114 

"Peter Parley." From The New England Magazine . 115 
School in Connecticut. From The Malte-Brun School 

Geography, 1831 . . . . . .116 

Ichabod Crane's School. From Irving' s The Legend of 

Sleepy Hollow ..... facing 1 1 8 

Ichabod Crane at his Boarding-place. From Irving' s The 

Legend of Sleepy Hollow . . . . 1 20 

A Salem Reward of Merit, Owned by the Essex Institute 122 



xiv List of Ulusi>ations 

Page 
Whipping-post formerly in a Sunderland, Mass., School- 
room. Owned by the Deerfield Museum . .124 
William Biglow, who taught for many years in Salem and 
Boston during the latter part of the eighteenth century 
and the early part of the nineteenth. From a portrait 
in wax owned by the Essex Institute . . .125 
Box Desks and Cast-iron Stove. From The New England 

Magazine . . . . . . . .130 

A Schoolboy. From The New England Magazine . . 131 

A Schoolgirl . . . . . . . .132 

At Work ....... facing 133 

On the Way Home . . . . . . .134 

A Summer School as pictured in Bolles's Spelling Book, 183 1 135 
The End of Recess . . . . . . .136 

A Little Girl of the Eighteenth Century. From a pastel 

owned by the Connecticut Historical Society . . 139 

A Reward of Merit, about 1820. Owned by the Deerfield 

Museum . . . . . . . .140 

A Reward of Merit, 1822. Owned by the Deerfield 

Museum . . . . . . . .141 

A Sampler. Owned by the Goodwin Historical Museum, 

Hadley, Mass 142 

One of the More Elaborate Samplers. Owned by the 

Connecticut Historical Society . . . .143 

Lower Half of a Sampler, showing a characteristic verse and 
some intricate and romantic designing. Owned by the 
Newburyport Historical Society . . . .144 

"A Minister's Rib Factory." Mary Lyon's Mt. Holyoke 

Seminary, built in 1837 . . . . .146 

An Old New England Academy . . . . .148 

A Signature. From a Dilworth's Schoolmaster^ 's Assistant . 152 
A Warning. From a Dwight's Geography, 1802 . 153 

Wise Advice in a Murray's English Reader, 1822 . . 154 

Lines from a Bingham's American Preceptor, 1803 . .156 



List of Illustrations xv 

Page 
A Fly-leaf Bird. From a grammar of 1 7 1 4. Owned by the 

American Antiquarian Society . . . .160 

A Soldier. Drawn in Webb's The Common School Song- 
ster, 1843 . . . . . . .161 

A Rubbing from an Old Medal in The National Reader . 161 
Scrollwork. From The New England Magazine . . 162 

A Diminishing Scroll . . . . . . .162 

A Conventional Combination of Dots and Line. From The 

New England Magazine . . . . .162 

"A Basket of Eggs." From The New England Magazine 163 
"A Spanish S" . . . . . . . 163 

A Protecting Cover of Leather stitched with Tow . . 1 64 

A Title-page Imprint. From Dwight's A Short but Com- 
prehensive System of the Geography of the World . 165 
A Fly-leaf Animal. From The New England Magazine . 166 
Noah Webster. From a Steel Engraving owned by G. & C. 

Merriam & Co., Springfield, Mass. . . .168 

The Portrait in " The Old Blue-back " that scared the Chil- 
dren. From an early edition owned by the Essex Institute 173 
Of the Boy that stole Apples. From a Webster's speller 
dated 1789. Owned by the American Antiquarian 
Society . . . . . . . .179 

The Country Maid. From a Webster's speller dated 1789. 

Owned by the American Antiquarian Society . . 180 

Frontispiece to Webster's Elementary, 1829 . . . 181 

A Virago. From the Illustrated Edition of 1829 . .182 

An Orator. From the Illustrated Edition of 1829 . . 182 

The Bad Boy as he appeared in the Illustrated Edition of 1 829 1 84 
A Half-page from Bingham's The Child' 's Companion, 1795 186 
A Heading from Bingham's The Child's Companion . . 189 

Againft Pride in Clothes. From Alexander's Spelling Book, 

1799. Owned by the American Antiquarian Society . 193 
Againft Evil Company. From Alexander's Spelling Book. 

Owned by the American Antiquarian Society . .194 



XVI 



List of Illustrations 



For the Lord's Day Morning. From Alexander's Spelling 

Book. Owned by the American Antiquarian Society 
The Dove and the Bee. From a Columbian Spelling Book 

1799, in the Henry Barnard Collection . 
The Old Knight and his Wig. From a Columbian Spelling 

Book in the Henry Barnard Collection 
Alphabet Rhymes. From The Columbian Primer, 1802, ic 
The Little Wanderers. From The Columbian Primer 
Rhymes from The Columbian Primer, or Ladder to Learning 

New York, 1827 ...... 

Portion of a Page from Fiske's The Nezv England Spelling 

book, 1803 ...... 

The Child and the Serpent. From Fiske's The New Eng 

land Spelling-book ..... 

The naughty Girl reformed. From an 1803 edition of 

Perry's The Only Sure Guide to the English Tongue, 

Owned by the Deerfield Museum ... 
The Complaisant Hermit. From Perry's Only Sure Guide 

1818 

The Wolf accuses the Lamb of Muddying the Water 

From Perry's Only Sure Guide, 18 18 
The Smart Boy. From Jones's Analytical Spelling-book 

1823 

The Little Sawyer. From Jones's Analytical Spelling-book 
A Poetical Fable. From Picket's Juvenile Spelling-book, 

1823 

Owl. From The New York Spelling-book, 1823. Henry 

Barnard Collection ..... 

Part of a Page. From The New York Spelling-book. Henry 

Barnard Collection ..... 
A Page. From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book, 1836 
A Mule. From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book . 
A Pail. From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book 
A Girl. From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book 



List of Illustrations xvii 



A Toad. From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book . 
A Comparison. From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Booh 
Pa! May I go? From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book 
Part of a Page. From Spelling and Thinking, 1841 . 
Moses killing the Egyptian. From a Franklin Primer 

1802 

Eager Students. A Title-page Vignette in Leavitt's Eas 

Lessons, 1847 ...... 

Sentences illustrating Inflection. From Leavitt's Easy Lessons 

1847 .- 

The Coach and Two. From The Clinton Primer, 1830 

Owned by the Essex Institute 
Mr. Wood and Charles Bell. From Worcester's Second 

Book, 1830 . . . 

Thou Shalt not Steal. From Worcester's Second Book 
The Sleigh-ride. From Worcester's Second Book 
Two Pages from Gallaudet's The Child's Picture Defining 

Book, 1830 
A Bird. From The Progressive Reader, 1830 
The good Samaritan. From The Progressive Reader 
A Young Lion. From The Progressive Reader 
A Handsome Quadruped. From The Progressive Reader 
The French. From The Progressive Reader . 
A Depiction of Wickedness. Printed above the Ten Com 

mandments in The Union Primer, 1832. Owned by 

Mr. George A. Plimpton .... 
Frontispiece to The Child's Guide, 1833 
"Dear uncle, I cry almost all day long." From Th, 

Child's Guide ...... 

"Two Wicked Birds." From Pierpont's The Youn± 

Reader, 1835. Owned by the Boston Public Li 

brary ....... 

"A Composite Cut." From Lovell's The Young Pupil' 

Second Book, 1836 



Page 
228 
229 

230 
230 

2 34 
240 
241 

2 43 

244 

2 45 
246 

247 
248 
249 
251 
252 
252 



254 

255 

257 



259 

260 



xviii List of Illustrations 

Page 
Going to the Fields. From American Juvenile Primer, 1838 

facing 260 
The pretty little Bird. From American Juvenile Primer . 

facing 260 
A Topsy-turvy Hat. From Bentley's The Pictorial Primer, 

1842 ........ 262 

Doubtful Statements.- From Mandeville's Primary Reader, 

1849 ........ 263. 

Portion of Title-page, 1 79 1 . From a book owned by Mr. 

Henry Pease, West Springfield, Mass. . . . 269 

Story of Columbus. From a Little Reader* 's Assistant in the 

Henry Barnard Collection . . . . .270 

A " Christian " Indian getting the Best of a Heathen Indian. 

From a Little Reader's Assistant. Owned by Mr. 

Henry Pease . . . . . . .271 

Night Attack of Indians on Major Waldron's House, Dover, 

N.H. From a Little Reader's Assistant. Owned 

by Mr. Henry Pease . . . . . .272 

Captain John Smith a Captive in Serious Danger. From a 

Little Reader's Assistant. Owned by Mr. Henry 

Pease . . . . . . . .272 

Putnam and the Wolf. From a Little Reader' s Assistant. 

Owned by the American Antiquarian Society . . 273 

The Benevolent Churchill. From a Little Reader' s Assist- 
ant. Owned by the American Antiquarian Society . 274 
The Buffalo. From a Little Reader's Assistant. Owned 

by Mr. Henry Pease . . . . . .275 

An Appeal to King Philip. From the Columbian Reading 

Book, 1799 ....... 280 

A Meeting of Old Friends in the Streets of Paris. From 

the Columbian Reading Book . . . .281 

The Clever Indian. From the Columbian Reading Book . 282 
The Philosopher. From the Columbian Reading Book . 282 
A Rescue. From the Columbian Reading Book . . 283 



List of Illustrations 



XIX 



The Speaker. From Scott' 
The Flower Girl. From 



3 Lessons in Elocution, I 8 1 4 
Strong's The Common Reader 

1818 

The Catamountain. From The Improved Reader, 1827 
Specimen Lines. From Comstock's The Rhythmical Reader 

1832 

A Picture. From Emerson's The Second-class Reader, 1833 
Sir Nicholas Gimcrack. From The Intelligent Reader 

1834 * .-.-.• ' ..' 

A Retired Sailor "instructing his sister's grand-children.' 

From Adams's The Monitorial Reader, 1839 . 

Making the Preliminary Bow to the Audience. From 
Lovell's The Young Speaker, 1844 

An Expressive Attitude. From Lovell's The Young Speaker 

Copperplate Engraving on the Title-page of Sarjeant's Arith- 
metic, 1788. Owned by the American Antiquarian 
Society . . . , 

An Illustrated Problem. From Thompson's The American 
Tutor's Guide, 1808 

Part of a Page. From Barnard's A Treatise on Arithmetic, 
1830 

An Illustration. From Lesson First of Emerson's The North 
American Arithmetic, Part First, 1838 

Two Examples in Subtraction. From Emerson's The North 
American Arithmetic, Part First .... 

Jedidiah Morse. From The New England Magazine 

A Heading. From an Edition of 1 800 .... 

The First American Geography . . . facing 

Country Store. From Willard's Geography for Beginners, 
1826. Owned by the Essex Institute 

Cataract of Niagara. From Worcester's Eleme?its of Geog- 
raphy, 1828 . . ... 

Natural Bridge of Virginia. From Worcester's Elements of 
Geography, 1828 ...... 



289 
291 

294 
295 

296 

297 

300 

300 

306 
310 

3 J 5 
316 

317 

3 ! 9 

320 
326 

349 
35° 
35i 



xx List of Illustrations 

Page 
Whale Fishing. From Worcester's Elements of Geography, 

1829 352 

Trek-Shuit. From Worcester's Elements of Geography, 1829 353 
Bridges in Chili. From Woodbridge's Rudiments of Geog- 
raphy, 1829 . . . . . . -354 

Frontispiece to Peter Parley's Geography, 1830 . . 355 

English. From Peter Parley's Geography . . 356 

A Chinese. From Peter Parley's Geography . . 356 

Norwegian. From Peter Parley's Geography . . 357 

White Bear. From Olney's A Practical System of Modern 

Geography, 1831 357 

The Maelstroom. From Olney's A Practical System of 

Modern Geography . . . . . 358 

Winter in Canada. From The Malte-Brun School Geog- 
raphy, 1831 . . . . . . -358 

Progress of Improvement. From The Malte-Brun School 

Geography, 1842 . . . . . .360 

Scene in Illinois. From The Malte-Brun School Geography, 

1842 361 

Pilgrims landing at Plymouth. From Goodrich's A National 

Geography, 1 845 . . . . . .361 

Battle of Lexington. From Mitchell's A System of Modern 

Geography, 1850 . . . . . .362 

Pronouns. From " Murray' s Grammar adapted to the 

present mode of Instruction by Enoch Pond," 1835. 

Henry Barnard Collection ..... 365 
Interjections. From Enoch Pond's Murray's Grammar. 

Henry Barnard Collection . . . . .366 

Passive Verbs. From Enoch Pond's Murray' s Grammar. 

Henry Barnard Collection ..... 366 
Adverbs. From Enoch Pond's Murray's Grammar. 

Henry Barnard Collection ..... 367 
The Assault. From The Little Grammarian, 1829. Owned 

by Mr. George A. Plimpton ..... 368 



List of Illustrations xxi 

Page 

Prepositions. From The Little Grammarian, 1829. Owned 

by the Worcester Antiquarian Society . . .369 

The Comparison of Adjectives. From The Little Gramma- 
rian. Owned by the Worcester Antiquarian Society . 369 

Verbs. From The Little Grammarian. Owned by the 

Worcester Antiquarian Society . . . .370 

Girl learning her lesson. From Frost's Easy Exercises in 

Composition, 1839 • • • • • -37° 

Children promised a summer holiday. From Frost's Easy 

Exercises in Composition . . . . .371 

Capt. John Smith defending himself from the Indians. 

From Goodrich's A History of the United States, 1832 372 

Destruction of Tea in Boston Harbor. From Goodrich's 

A History of the United States . . . '373 

Punishment of a man from Billerica. From Taylor's A 

Universal History of the United States, 1830 . . 374 

Capture of the Frolic. From Taylor's A Universal His- 
tory of the United States . . . . 3 7 5 

Landing of Columbus, From Frost's A History of the 

United States, 1837 . . . . -376 

"Conflagration of Moscow." From Butler's Sketches of 

Universal History, 1818 . . . . '377 

Demosthenes declaiming upon the Sea-shore. From Whelp- 
ley's Compend. of History, 1825 • • • • 378 

Frontispiece to Godding's First Lessons in Geology, 1846 . 379 

Taking a thief to prison. From Goodrich's The Toung 

American, 1842 . . . . . . .380 




A Melancholy Scene. From Town's Second Reader, \i 



Old-time Schools and School- 
Books 



BEGINNINGS 

IN 1642, twelve years after the settlement of 
Boston, the General Court of Massachusetts, 
" taking into consideration the great neglect of 
many parents and guardians in training up their chil- 
dren in learning and labor which may be profitable 
to the commonwealth," ordered that the selectmen 
in every town should have power to take account 
of all parents and masters as to their children's edu- 
cation and employment. Each town was to be 
divided by its selectmen into sections — a section 
to each selectman ; and for the families in his 
apportionment the selectman was responsible. He 
must see that all the children learned to read, and 
that they were taught to understand the principles 
of religion and the capital laws of the country, and, 
finally, he must make sure that they were put to 
some useful work. 

The education required could be provided by the 
individual parents in their homes, or it could be 
provided in any manner they chose to devise col- 



i Old-time Schools and School-books 

lectively. Nothing was said about schools, and the 
law which is the foundation of the school system of 
the state was enacted five years later. The preamble 
starts with the premise that " It being one chiefe 
project of y l ould deluder, Sathan, to keepe men 
from the knowledge of y e Scriptures," effort must 
be made to thwart this "ould deluder y c learning 
may not be buried in y e grave of o r fath rs in y e church 
and commonwealth " : — 

It is therefore ord r ed, y c ev r y towneship in this Juris- 
diction, aft r y e Lord hath increased y m to y e number of 50 
household", shall then forthw th appoint one w th in their 
towne to teach all such children as shall resort to him 
to write & reade, whose wages shall be paid eith r by y e 
parents or mast rs of such children, or by y e inhabitants in 
gen r all, by way of supply, as y e maior p l of those yt ord r y e 
prudentials of y e towne shall appoint. 

The law also made it obligatory that parents, 
where schools were lacking, should teach " rijeir chil- 
dren and apprentices perfectly to read fffe English 
tongue " ; and instances are not rare of persons 
brought before the courts and admonished for neg- 
lecting this duty. Another provision of the law 
was that any town containing one hundred families 
should " set up a gramer schoole, y e master thereof 
being able to instruct youth so farr as they may be 
fited for y e university." The university referred to 
was Harvard, for the establishing of which arrange- 
ments had been made in 1636. 

In England a " gramer schoole " meant one where 
Latin was the staple. English grammar, the study 



Beginnings 3 

the name most suggests, was not taught in such a 
school at all. But in this country the grammar 
schools, with few exceptions, were Latin and Eng- 
lish schools combined. Even in those of the 
early Boston schools which were distinctly " Latin 
Schools," there appears to have been an usher, as 
the master's assistant was called, who taught English. 
The grammar schools rounded out and completed 
the educational system of Massachusetts, and this 
colony was decidedly in advance of all the others in 
providing for a general distribution of knowledge. 

The legislature of Connecticut soon followed the 
example of Massachusetts in enacting a system of 
school laws ; but in all the other colonies each parish 
or settlement was a law unto itself in educational 
matters, and the schools were mainly under the pat- 
ronage and control of the church. 

The claim has been made that New Amsterdam 
had a free school before Boston did ; but its first 
school, established in 1633, was a public school in 
only a very limited sense. It was maintained for 
the town's children of the Dutch Reformed Church 
and no others. The citizens were complaining four- 
teen years later that no schoolhouse had yet been 
built, and that " the school is kept very irregularly, 
by this one or that, according to his fancy, as long 
as he sees fit." Ten years more passed, and we find 
the Manhattan folk humbly representing to the 
Dutch West India Company, under whose auspices 
they were governed, that there was no school in the 
colony where their children could learn Latin ; that 
there was no such school nearer than New England ; 



4 Old-time Schools and School-books 

and they prayed the honorable company to send a 
man capable of teaching this language. Their request 
was granted, but by that time Massachusetts had 
half a score of flourishing Latin schools, and seven- 
teen classes had been graduated from Harvard. 

The early schools were supported partly by the 
subscriptions of the well-to-do, partly by the rentals 
of lands set aside for the purpose, partly by tuition 
fees, and partly by taxes. There was no uniformity 
in the methods the different towns had for meeting 
their school expenses. Some took one way, and 
some another, but most adopted a combination of 
several ways ; and while there was usually a town 
rate, this was only to supplement the other sources 
of income. Each town in Massachusetts had full 
control of its own schools, and the people voted in 
their regular town meetings what they would spend 
on them, how raise the money, who should teach, 
and what should be the amount of compensation. 
All the details of the school economy were attended 
to by the town officers. 

The pay received by the teachers was meagre, and 
not always easily collected. In Northampton the 
first teacher was a town farmer by the name of Cor- 
nish, who, in 1664, was voted "six pound towards 
the scoole & to tacke the benifet of the scollers 
provided that he teach Six months in the yeare to- 
gether." The total expense was in this instance 
shared between town and pupils; but just what fees 
resulted to Farmer Cornish from being allowed to 
"tacke the benifet of the scollers" is uncertain. At 
best, the remuneration could hardly have sufficed 



Beginnings 5 

for the support of the master and his family, and 
he must have continued largely dependent on agri- 
culture. He was apparently a man of considerable 
ability and standing in the town, for the records give 
his name the prefix of " Mr.," which was then an 
honorable distinction. Yet he had a habit of pro- 
fanity, and once was fined twenty shillings by the 
court for cursing. 

A year or two later his successor received an an- 
nual ten pounds from the town, while the scholars 
paid " fFowre pence pr weeke for such as are in the 
primer & other English books and Six pence pr 
weeke to learne the Accidence wrighting Casting 
Accounts." The instruction was practically all rudi- 
mentary. Even in the " Accidence," by which was 
meant Latin grammar, probably only the slightest 
outlines were taught. It is doubtful if the pupils 
were generally supplied with books, and in " Casting 
Accounts " the master presumably imparted nothing 
but his own knowledge of the art. 

In 1687 the town changed its method of paying 
the master. He was still to collect tuition fees, but 
whatever he lacked of getting forty pounds was to 
be made up by the town. There was always much 
delinquency in paying on the part of those who 
sent children to school, and when the teacher was 
thus relieved from any absolute necessity for follow- 
ing up his debtors, it can easily be imagined that 
the amount collected dwindled. The result was 
that the town voted shortly afterward to allow " the 
Scholers to go free." 

It was customary to pay the early masters in prod- 



6 Old-time Schools and School-books 

uce, agreement being made in hiring the teacher just 
what this should be. An old Dedham contract calls 
for two-thirds in wheat and the other third in corn ; 
and Deerfield, in 1703, covenants to pay the master 

Twenty and five pounds in manner following : yt is to 
say They have by bargin liberty to pay him y e one 3d part 
of sd sum in Barley and no more : y e other two 3ds in 
other grain yt is to say in indian corn : peas : or Rye in 
any or all of them : all these afore mentioned to be good 
and merchantable. 

The net salary of the schoolmasters in most towns, 
after allowing a moderate sum for board, is estimated 
to have hardly exceeded, as expressed in modern 
terms, sixty or seventy dollars. 

I have spoken of tuition fees. They were an 
accepted part of the educational financing in nearly 
all the old towns, and free schools were many years 
discussed before the majority of the towns adopted 
them. Free schools found favor with the poorer 
classes, but were opposed by the wealthy, especially 
the wealthy who had no children to send ; and they 
did not become the rule until long after the be- 
ginning of the eighteenth century. Indeed, school 
support by taxation was not made compulsory in 
Massachusetts until 1827. 

The first town to have a school supported by 
general taxation — that is, by a tax on all the prop- 
erty holders of the community — was Dedham. The 
date of the innovation was 1649. The town records 
show that the schoolhouse was " built together with 
a watch house, the length 18 foote, the wideness, 



Beginnings 7 

15 foote ; two convenient windows in the lower 
room & one in the chamber." The watch house 
was " a leanto set at the back of the chimney sixe 
foote wide" and it projected beyond the corner of 
the house on either side two and one-half feet. It 
had a fireplace and it had " open windowes so that 
the watch might have an aspect 4 severall wayes." 
The building stood in the centre of the village on 
the borders of the parish green near the meeting 
house. In the schoolroom the scholars labored dur- 



Schoolhouse erected in 1649 at Dedham, Mass. 

ing the day, and in the lean-to a sentinel watched 
from the windows during the night. The master 
was permitted to keep the school in his own home 
in extreme weather ; and during the heat of summer 
he might use the meeting-house, provided he kept 
it clean and mended all the windows that his boys 
broke. 

For a hundred years we find frequent mention of 
keeping schools in the meeting-houses. Those early 
churches were never invested with the religious sane- 



8 Old-time Schools and School-books 

tity that is attached to a church now. They were 
designed not only for places of worship, but for all 
gatherings as the people had need. Until after the 
beginning of the nineteenth century, meeting-houses 
were in some communities used for town meet- 
ings and even for sessions of the law courts. Occa- 
sionally the building was outgrown as a church 
and was then devoted to school use exclusively. 
This happened in 1664 in one of our Connecticut 
valley towns, and what had been the first meeting- 
house sheltered the master and his pupils for thirty 
years. The structure had been erected about a decade 
previous to its becoming a schoolhouse, and was " of 
Sawen Timber, 26 foot long and 18 foot wide, 9 
foot high from the lower p' of y e cell to the upper 
part of the raisens." 

It was decidedly superior to the log houses which 
sheltered the people, for most of the pioneer dwell- 
ings were of round logs, and the finest of them had 
nothing better in their walls than hewn logs. The 
meeting-house, however, was of material that could 
only be obtained by great manual labor. Saw-mills 
had long before been introduced in the vicinity of 
the settlements on the coast, but many years elapsed 
before any were possessed by the new towns inland, 
and the only means of sawing logs into timbers or 
boards was by use of a long heavy saw operated by 
two men, one standing on the log and the other in a 
pit below. 

The meeting-house had a single doorway, two 
windows, and a chimney. The roof was of thatch. 
Probably the edifice never had a pulpit or pews. 



Beginnings 9 

Backless benches served for seats, and the change to a 
schoolroom was very easily made. 

Most schools had to be content with buildings 
far less substantial than this one.; yet the worst 
trouble was that the structures seldom received the 
attention they should have had when they began to 
get out of repair. We are given a rather startling 
impression of what these conditions might be by a 
master who, writing in 168 1 of the " inconveniences " 
of his schoolhouse, describes 

the confused and shattered and nastie posture that it is in, 
the glass broke, and thereupon very raw and cold ; the floor 
very much broken and torn up to kindle fires, the hearth 
spoiled, the seats some burned and others out of kilter, 
that one had well-nigh as goods keep school in a hog stie 
as in it. 

A very prolific source of annoyance to the school- 
master was the supply of firewood. The parents 
were required to bring a certain quantity of wood to 
the schoolhouse for each of their children attending. 
Thus, in 1699, we find one of our New England 
towns ordering " that all and every Scholler bring one 
load of wood though they goe but two months, that 
is two months from the beginning of October to y e 
first of Aprill." During the other portion of the year 
little or no fire was needed. Those who failed to 
do their duty in this matter of fuel were to pay a 
fine of four shillings. A penalty of some sort was 
a necessity ; and it is explained that many who " sent 
their children to Schoole were too negligent in 
bringing of wood for want whereof the Schoole oft 



io Old-time Schools and School-books 

times was omited." An enormous fireplace was 
the sole means of warming the schoolrooms of that 
day, and in sharp weather it consumed the wood 
most ravenously. The vote mentioned above was 
intended to remedy the chronic vanishing of the 
school woodpile, but it was not wholly effective, 
and the next year the selectmen were directed to 
prosecute delinquents. 

Such an experience was not at all exceptional, and 
most of the towns passed special acts applying to 
the case. Sometimes the children of parents who 
did not do their part in keeping up the woodpile 
were turned out of the school. Sometimes they 
were refused " the benefit of the fire," and the master 
saw to it that they sat in the schoolroom's bleakest 
corner. Another rule was that the schoolboys of 
households whose parents sent the wood in sled 
length must cut it up where it lay in the school- 
yard. 

Many of the towns provided a grammar school 
before they did an elementary. It seems to have 
been generally understood that children would be 
taught to read before attending the grammar schools. 
Thus in an agreement with a teacher of the Roxbury 
grammar school we find he is to " use his best skill 
and endeavor, both by precept and example, to 
instruct in all scholastical, moral, and theological 
discipline the children of the proprietors of the 
school — all a-b-c-darians excepted." 

We get suggestive glimpses of the routine of the 
early schools in the Dorchester school rules of 1645, 
which provided that for seven months in the warmer 



Beginnings 1 1 

part of the year the master should every day begin 
to teach at seven o'clock in the morning and dismiss 
the scholars at five in the afternoon, while in the 
colder and darker months of the remainder of the 
year he was to begin at eight and close at four. 
There was to be a midday intermission from eleven 
to one, except on Monday, when the master 

shall call his scholars together between twelve and one of 
the clock to examine them what they have learned, at 
which time also he shall take notice of any misdemeanor 
or outrage that any of his scholars shall have committed 
on the sabbath, to the end that at some convenient time 
due admonition and correction may be administered. 

He shall diligently instruct both in humane and good 
literature, and likewise in point of good manners and duti- 
ful behavior towards all, especially their superiors. Every 
day of the week at two of the clock in the afternoon, he 
shall catechise his scholars in the principles of the Chris- 
tian religion. 

He shall faithfully do his best to benefit his scholars, 
and not remain away from school unless necessary. He 
shall equally and impartially teach such as are placed in his 
care, no matter whether their parents be poor or rich. (A 
necessary warning, for the well-to-do and influential were 
given a preference in most affairs of the times.) 

It is to be a chief part of the schoolmaster's religious 
care to commend his scholars and his labors amongst them 
unto God by prayer morning and evening taking care that 
his scholars do reverently attend during the same. 

The rod of correction is a rule of God necessary some- j^ 
times to be used upon children. The schoolmaster shall 
have full power to punish all or any of his scholars, no 
matter who they are. No parent or other person living in 
the place shall go about to hinder the master in this. But 



12 Old-time Schools and School-books 

if any parent or others shall think there is just cause for 
complaint against the master for too much severity, they 
shall have liberty to tell him so in friendly and loving way. 

The emphasis laid on religious instruction in these 
rules was very characteristic of the colonial period. 
The children were perpetually enveloped, week-days 
and Sundays, in an atmosphere saturated with re- 
ligious forms, services, ideas, and language. To 
illustrate how omnipresent this religious atmosphere 
was, I cannot do better than to cite the occasion when 
Judge Sewell found that the spout which conducted 
the rain water from his roof did not perform its 
office. After patient searching, a ball belonging to 
the Sewell children was discovered lodged in the 
spout. Thereupon the father sent for the minister 
and had a season of prayer with his boys, that their 
mischief or carelessness might be set in its proper 
aspect and that the event might be sanctified to their 
spiritual good. Powers of darkness and of light 
were struggling for the possession of every youthful 
soul, and it was the duty of parents, ministers, and 
teachers to lose no opportunity to pluck the children 
as brands from the burning. 

The efforts to make the children religious were 
not by any means uniformly successful. No doubt 
the insistence of the elders on the solemnities often 
deadened their charges' sensibilities. At any rate, 
character and conduct among the young people were 
far from perfect. A committee appointed to see if 
the instruction at Harvard remained true to its early 
adopted motto, For Christ and the Church, reported 



Beginnings 13 

that the Greek Catechism was recited regularly by the 
freshmen, and that Wollebius's System of Divinity 
was diligently pursued by the other classes, while on 
Saturday evening, in the presence of the president, 
the students repeated the sermon of the foregoing Sab- 
bath. " Yet the committee are compelled to lament 
the continued prevalence of several immoralities, par- 
ticularly stealing, lying, swearing, idleness, picking of 
locks, and too frequent use of strong drink." 

Boys began to attend the grammar schools when 
they were seven or eight years of age, and now and 
then a youngster entered the Boston Latin School 
no older than six and one-half. Not infrequently 
the boys had by that time made considerable prog- 
ress in Latin, and sometimes the merest infants 
were taught by doting parents to read this learned 
language as soon as they were taught to read Eng- 
lish. Precocity was encouraged, not alone by intel- 
ligent parents, but by leading writers and thinkers. 
A good example of what was expected of the little 
ones is furnished by Isaac Watts' s The Young Child 's 
Catechism. The first half of it was designed for 
learners of " Three or Four Years Old," and the 
questions for these beginners included such as 

Have you learnt to know who God is ? 
What muft you do to efcape God's Anger, which your 
Sins have deferved ? 

What muft become of you if you are wicked ? 

The answer to the last is, " If I am wicked, I 
fhall be fent down to everlafting Fire in Hell among 
wicked and miferable creatures." 



14 Old-time Schools and School-books 

The text-book equipment of the old schools was 
exceedingly meagre, and the average schoolboy had 
only a catechism or primer, a Psalter, and a Testa- 
ment, or a Bible. For Latin students this list would 
have to be extended, but ordinarily it comprised all 
a boy ever used as long as he attended school. Still, 
scattered copies of the school-books put forth in 
England were possessed, and these were not without 
influence in the schools and on the attainments of 
the pupils. The text-books were practically all of 
foreign authorship. Indeed, I believe the only 
school-book of American origin prior to the Revolu- 
tion was a little Latin grammar by Ezekiel Cheever. 
Cheever was one of the most notable of the early 
schoolmasters. He taught in New Haven and 
some smaller places ; but for the last thirty-eight 
years of his life was master of the Boston Latin 
School. He died at his post in i 708, at the age of 
ninety-four, after having given seventy years of con- 
tinuous service to the New England schools. His 
death was widely mourned, and he was long held in 
affectionate remembrance, for he was more patient 
with the slow boys and less severe and brutal with all 
boys than schoolmasters of that age were wont to be. 

Full to the brim with Puritan theo/ogy, he wrote 
a book called The Scriptural Prophesies Explained, 
and he was unflagging in earnest endeavors to help 
his boys to become Christian men. The text-book 
of his authorship to which I have referred was, A 
Short Introduction to the Latin Tongue, generally 
known as " Cheever's Accidence." It enjoyed for 
over a century immense popularity. The first edi- 



Beginnings 



15 



Orbis Senfualium Pi&m. 

A World of Things Obvious to the 
Senfes Drawn in Pi&ures. 



Invitation, 



Invit&tiQ. 




The Matter and the 
Boy. 

M./~* Ome Boy, learn to be 

\j wife. 

P. What doth this mean, to 
be wife ? 

M. To underpaid rightly, 



Magifter & Puer* 

M.\TEn\ Puer, difce fa* 
P. Quid hoc eft, Sapene? 
M. Omhia> quae neeejfaria^ 



First Lesson Page of Comenius's Visible World. 



1 6 Old-time Schools and School-books 

tion appeared in 1645, an< ^ tne book was republished 
as late as 1838. In the grammar schools Cheever's 
was usually the first Latin book, and after the boys 
had worked their way through that they plunged 
into the dreary wilderness of " Lily's Grammar " 
with its twenty-five kinds of nouns, its seven gen- 
ders, and other things in proportion — all to be 
wearisomely committed to memory. The purga- 
tory of this grammar was early recognized, and 
Cotton Mather said of it, " Persisting in the use 
of Lily's book will prolong the reign of the ferule." 
The only copies I have seen have been revisions of 
the original, yet the one I own, dated 1766, states 
that the unrevised is still printed and for sale. The 
author of the work died in 1523, and one would 
think that in the two centuries and a half since the 
book first appeared it would have been entirely sup- 
planted. 

A more attractive book to the Latin boys was 
John Amos Comenius's Visible World which was 
published in 1658. Aside from ABC primers, this 
was the first illustrated school-book ever printed. 
Comenius, born in 1592, was a Moravian bishop, 
and the most distinguished educational reformer of 
his time. He wrote a number of books, but the 
one that attained the widest circulation was this 
" Vijible World: ox a Nomenclature, and Pictures of all 
the chief things that are in the World, and of Men's 
Employments therein; in above an 150 Copper 
Cuts." Every subject treated had its picture, and 
below the engraving was a medley of explanatory 
little sentences in two columns, one column in Latin. 



Beg 



innings 



17 





Comix cornicatur, a'd 

The Crow crietb. 

Agnus baht, bSii 
The Lamb blaitetb. 

Cca'da ftridet, ti ci 
The Grajhopper chnpeth. 

Upup<t dicir, du du 
The Wbooppoo faith 

Infarts ejular, e e e 
The Infant crietb. 

Ventix flar, fifi 

The Wind blovoeth. 

Anfer gmgrit, gaga 
The Goofe gagletb. 

O^halat, bdbbdh 

The moutb breatbethm. 

Musmlntnt, Hi 
The Mo-uf e cbirpeth 

Anas tetrinnit, kha kba 
The Duck quaketb. 

Lupus ululat, lu ufa 
The Wolf bow/eth. 

LJrfus murmurat,7fltfw mum 
The Bear grumbleth. 



Aa 

Bb 

Cc 

Dd 

Ee 
Ff 

Gg 

Hh 

li 

Kk 

LI 

Mm 



Part of an Illustrated Alphabet in the Visible World. 
c 



felb 



1 8 Old-time Schools and School-books 

the other in English. By such means the pupil was 
supposed not only to learn Latin, but to absorb a 
large amount of general knowledge concerning the in- 
dustries and other"chief things that areinthe World." 
It was a crude effort to interest the child, and was 
encyclopaedic, dry, and verbal, having more the 
character of an illustrated dictionary than a child's 
reading-book ; yet for one hundred years this was the 
most popular text-book in Europe, and it was trans- 
lated into fourteen languages. 

Other Latin books in common use were iEsop, 
Eutropius, and The Colloquies of Corderius ; and for 
the older boys Caesar, Ovid, Virgil, and Cicero. In 
Greek they had the grammar, the Testament, and 
Homer. Thus they fitted themselves for the uni- 
versity, which made very exacting -requirements in 
the dead languages, but paid little attention to the 
progress its prospective students had made in sci- 
ence, mathematics, or anything else. The Harvard 
terms of admission were these : — 

Whoever shall be able to read Tully, or any other such- 
like classical author at sight, and correctly, and without 
assistance to speak and write Latin both in prose and 
verse, and to inflect exactly the paradigms of Greek nouns 
and verbs, has a right to expect to be admitted into the 
college, and no one may claim admission without these 
qualifications. 

The classical requisites noted above become quite 
impressive when it is remembered that the law 
ordered every town in Massachusetts of a hundred 
families to provide this knowledge. 



Beginnings 19 

The Barbers Shop. LXXV. Tonftrwa. 




The Barber, 1. 
in the Barbers- (hop, 2. 
cutteth off the Hair 
and the Beard 
with a pair of ShzzrSy 3. 
or jhaveih with a Razor, 
which he ta\eth out of his 
Cafe, 4. 

And he waflieth one 
over a Bafon, 5. 
■with Suds running 
out of a. Laver, 6. 
andalfo with Sppe, 7. 
andwipeth him 
with a Towel, 8. 
combeth him with a Comb, 9. 
and curleth him 
with a Crifping Iron, 10. 

Sometimes he cutteth a Vein 
with a Pen-knife, 11. 
where the Blood fpirteth out ,12-. 



Tonfor, 1. 
in Tonfirina, 2, 
tondec Crines 
& Barbam 
Forcipe, 3. 
vel radic Novacute, 
quam e Theca, 4* depromit. 

Ec Iavat 
fuper Ptlvim, 5. 

Lixivio defluente 
e Gutturnio, 6. 
ut & Sapone, 7. 
& tergit 
Linteo, 8. 
pe&ic Fefline % 9. 
crifpac 
Calamiftro, 10. 

Interdum Venam fecac 
S'calpello, ir. 

ubi Sanguis propullulat, 12. 
The 



A Page showing the Method of Teaching in the Visible World, 



20 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Most of the teachers of the early Latin schools 
had received a college education in England, and 
were men of more than ordinary capacity and expe- 
rience. Our own Harvard, too, sent forth many 
graduates who found places in the schools as well 
as in the pulpits. The teachers were all deeply im- 
bued with that religious spirit which characterized 

THE 

ENGLISH 

SCHOOL-MASTER. 

Teaching all his Scholars , of what 

age foever, themoft eafy, fhort, and perfeft or- 
der of diftinA Reading, and true Writing our 
Englifh-tongut , that hath ever yet been 
known or publifhed by any. 

Portion of the Title-page of a popular Text-book first published in 1596. 

the Puritan epoch, for this was the trend of their 
whole training. Their college studies were the 
studies of a divinity school. There was some arith- 
metic and geometry, physics and science, but as 
for the rest — it was grammar, logic, and rhetoric; 
politics and ethics; Chaldee, Hebrew, and Syriac ; 
biblical and catechetical divinity. 

The earliest spelling-book was Coote's The Eng- 
lish School-Master - , a thin quarto of seventy-two 



Begin 



ginnings 



21 




fqrj3fo~: J£ff&ijru m George- //an) m Lombard Avert 



Frontispiece to a Speller entitled, A Rational Way of Teaching, 1 688. 



22 Old-time Schools and School-books 

pages, first published in 1596. It continued to be 
extraordinarily popular for over a century. Accord- 
ing to the title-page, "he which hath this Book 
only, needeth to buy no other to make him fit from 
his Letters to the Grammar-School, or for an Appren- 
tice." Besides spelling, it contained arithmetic, his- 
tory, writing lessons, prayers, psalms, and a short 
catechism. To add to the intricacy, much of the 
text was printed in old English black letter. 

Another ancestral speller was England 's Perfect 
School-M after, by Nathaniel Strong, London, 1676, 
of the editing and use of which the author says in 
his 

The Epiftle to the Reader 

r Pon confideration of the bad reading of many, who know 
not how scarcely to spell any word rightly : I have forted 
all the zvords I could think of and ranked them in particular 
Tables. By this Book a Lad may be taught to read a Chapter 
perfectly in the Bible in a quarter of a years time. I have 
likewife added unto this Book certain other neceffary Inftruc- 
tions, and ufeful Varieties, as ivell for writers as Readers. 
The whole I crave God's Blefjing upon, and leave it to thy 
candid acceptance ; Remaining 

Thine to ferve thee or thine, 

NAT STRONG. 

One curious department, covering fifteen pages, 
consists of" Some Obfervations of Words that are 
alike in found, yet of different fignification, and 
fpelling." Their use and meaning are indicated 
thus : — 

I Saw one fent unto the Hill's afcent, 
Who did affent to me before he went. 



U' 



Beginnings 23 

Above thy reach a iS^zW-fteeple ftands, 
Afpire not high, thou Spyer out of Lands. 

The latter portion of the book is devoted to 
Latin exercises, " Forms of Letters," and arithme- 
tic. From the arithmetic I quote these two bills, 
the items of which have a strangely unfamiliar 
look: — 

A Shoomakers Bill. 

1 pair Cloth Shooes and Golfhoes, with Ferry Boots 

2 pair of Shafhoons for Boots 

9 dozen of Wooden-heel'd Shooes 

For waxing a pair of Boots 

2 pair of Women's Lac'd Shooes and Slaps 

A Taylor s Bill. 

Mr. John Saddler, his bill. 

For a Set of Gold and Silver Buttons 

For Tabby for lining the Coat 

For feifing Flap 

For Cottoning for the Hofe and Pockets 

For canvas for Stavs and StifFenings 

For Belly-Pieces, Hooks, Eyes, and Stay-Tape 

For Silk and Galloon 

The lessons in the book are supplemented by 
several prayers, and then at the bottom of the final 
page there is this " Advertifement," in which the 
author says he has a school 

where Youth may be fitted for the Univerfity : Alfo taught 
to write all manner of Fair Hands, with Arithrnetick ; 



24 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Likewife Boarded with a great conveniency. My encour- 
agement where I am being as yet but fmall ; If any Perfon 
can advife to any Place or Parifh wanting a School-mafter ; 
upon affurance of a competent livelihood, I fhall loon quit 
my prefent concerns, and readily accept it. 

The ministers had much to do with the public 
schools in all places, large and small. Their super- 
vision was constant and vigilant. The church was 
then supported by the whole town, and its affairs 
regulated in the town meetings; and the minister 
was a town officer. He was employed for the reli- 
gious instruction of the people; and as the children 
were an important part of his charge, his visits to 
the schools were frequent. He examined the chil- 
dren in the catechism and in their knowledge of the 
Bible, and sometimes questioned them on the ser- 
mon of the preceding Sunday. In 1710 we find it 
was expected of the Boston ministers that they 
would, on their school visits, pray with the pupils, 
and " entertain them with some instructions of 
piety specially adapted to their age and educa- 
tion " ; and something of this sort continued to be 
the duty of the ministers in our rural towns until 
the middle of the last century. The rural minister 
also often rendered service as a teacher, especially as 
a teacher of Latin in towns that had no grammar 
school. Many ministers boarded several students, 
as well as taught them. 

When other means of education were lacking, the 
laws ordered that the parents themselves should im- 
part instruction to their children. But most com- 
munities contrived at least to have a dame school. 



Beginnings 25 

There was always some woman in every neighbor- 
hood who, for a small amount of money, was willing 
to take charge of the children and teach them the 
rudiments of knowledge. The older and larger 
towns had these dame schools as well as the pioneer 
villages, and they were everywhere a chief dependence 
for elementary instruction ; yet they were seldom at 
first town schools, and none of them were free for 
a long time. The dame school was an English 
institution, and the description of it by the poet 
Crabbe as it existed across the Atlantic would very 
well fit it here : — 

... a deaf, poor, patient widow sits 
And awes some thirty infants as she knits ; 
Infants of humble, busy wives who pay 
Some trifling price for freedom through the day. 
At this good matron's hut the children meet, 
Who thus becomes the mother of the street. 
Her room is small, they cannot widely stray, 
Her threshold high, they cannot run away. 
With band of yarn she keeps offenders in, 
And to her gown the sturdiest rogue can pin. 

The school dame did not usually find the labor of 
teaching very onerous. While she heard the smaller 
pupils recite their letters, and the older ones read 
and spell from their primers, she busied her fingers 
with knitting and sewing, and in the intervals 
between lessons sometimes worked at the spinning- 
wheel. An interesting instance of school-dame 
industry occurs in the annals of Northfield, Massachu- 
setts. The first teacher in the town was a woman hired 
to care for a class of little ones twenty-two weeks in 



26 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



the warm season. Besides the neighbors' children 
she had four of her own to look after, yet her en- 
ergies were by no 
means exhausted, 
and the semi-lei- 
sure of the school- 
room allowed her to 
work quite steadily 
making shirts for 
the Indians at eight 
pence each. 

The beginner's 
chief aid in starting 
on the road to 
learning was a 
hornbook — not 
really a book at 
all, but simply a 
bit of printed paper 
about three by four 
inches fastened on 
a thin piece of 
board. The name 
"hornbook" origi- 
nated in the fact 
that the printed 
slip was covered 

A Typical Hornbook. with a translucent 

sheet of horn, 
" To save from fingers wet the letters fair." A 
light strip of metal, usually brass, was fastened with 
several short nails or tacks around the edges of the 



«fAabcdcfghJjklmnop< 
rf*t u v w xy z& aeioi 
ABCDEFGHITKLMNOPC 
|RSTUVW#Y2 

.a e i o u a e i o u 

jabebibobub babebtbo 
lac ec ic oc uc ca ce ci co cc 
adediJodud dadedidodi 
Lin the Karo«oftic Fathei and of th«1 
|Son,and of the Hoi/ Ohoft. Asm. 
, UR Father.which art u 
' Heaven.hallowed be thyl 
Jame ; thy Kingdom come,thy | 
7 ill be done on Ear th,a i i t is in! 
heaven. Give us this Day our| 
lilyBread; and forgive u«ourt 
Vefpaflca, as wc forgive themj 
that trefpaf* againft us : And] 
lead us not intoTeinptRt*on,but j 
sliver ui from Evil, Ami 



Beginnings 



27 



horn to keep it in place. The board had a handle 
at one end, and occasionally this handle was pierced 
with a hole so that a string could be attached and 
the toddling owner of the hornbook could carry it 
suspended from his neck. At the top of the paper 




Revolving Alphabet. 
Diameter of the original, five inches. 



was printed the alphabet, capitals, and small letters ; 
and then in orderly array the vowels, then double 
lines of ab, eb, ibs, and the benediction, "In the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghoft. Amen." The remaining space was devoted 
to the Lord's Prayer, unless, as was sometimes 



28 Old-time Schools and School-books 

the case, this was supplemented at the bottom by 
the Roman numerals. 

A curious successor to the hornbook was pro- 
duced by a Hartford publisher in 1820. It was 
called " The Revolving Alphabet or Child's In- 
structive Toy," and consisted of two wooden disks 
about five inches in diameter with a circular sheet of 
paper between them. On one side of the paper was 
printed the alphabet; on the other side a series of 
little syllables. By turning a thumb-piece the paper 
inside the disks could be made to revolve, and an 
aperture near the edge of one of the disks allowed 
you to see the printing, a short column at a time. 
I imagine this educational toy never had much 
vogue, and that few people have ever seen one. 



II 

COLONIAL SCHOOLS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

THE early Massachusetts school laws decreed 
that any town neglecting to provide a school- 
master should be subject to a penalty of ten 
pounds. In 1701 the General Court, after declaring 
that the observance of this decree was " shamefully 
neglected by divers towns, and the penalty thereof 
not required, tending greatly to the nourishment of 
ignorance and irreligion, whereof grievous complaint 
is made," doubled the penalty, and enjoined all 
justices of the peace and grand juries to vigilantly 
attend to the law's execution. As a result, at nearly 
every session of the court there were towns " pre- 
sented " for not maintaining the schools required by 
law, especially the grammar schools. Many excuses 
were offered — sometimes poverty, sometimes in- 
ability to secure a teacher. The poverty was often 
very real, for the colony had passed through King 
Philip's War, 1675-78, on which it had spent more 
than half a million dollars. Besides the expense, 
there had been great loss of life, twelve out of the 
ninety towns had been utterly destroyed, and forty 
others had been the scene of' fire and massacre. A 
number of communities were so reduced that their 
share in the colony tax was remitted. 
29 



3° 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



For a long time the fear of Indian invasion had a 
tendency to hold the settlers closely together, and in 
some of the towns it was forbidden to build beyond 





lOtfMtff'.: ,;:) " 



A Salem Schoolhouse with Whipping-post in the near Street. 
From a drawing made about 1 770. 

a fixed distance of one or two miles from the meeting- 
house. But now that the savages had been thor- 
oughly subdued, the people began to push out into 
the wilderness, and new towns were planted and 
added to the commonwealth in quick succession. 
Many of them had no village nucleus. They either 
consisted of widely scattered farms, or of several 
isolated hamlets. The old towns, too, sent forth 
new shoots, and developed outlying neighborhoods. 
Thus the schooling of the children presented new 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 31 

conditions and problems. All the children must be 
taught, and to reach them " moving schools " were 
devised — that is, the towns voted that a school 
should be kept for a part of the year in each of 
several vicinities. The Massachusetts town of 
Scituate ordered the school to be kept one-third 
at each end of the town and one-third in the middle ; 
Yarmouth decided to have the school in five places 
varying from one to four months each ; and in 
Sutton, where a more scanty education was provided, 
the school was kept at the discretion of the select- 
men in four places, one month to each. It was 
permissible in some of the towns for the scholars to 
follow the schools, but this privilege was probably 
not much used. The various divisions of the town 
were called " angles " or " squadrons " at first, and 
later "districts." For a long period few of them 
had schoolhouses, but presently the school was made 
conditional on the district's erecting a building. By 
the middle of the century the towns began to allow 
the districts to draw their proportion of the school 
money and spend it as they liked. The schools 
ceased to be town schools, and the choice of teachers, 
their pay, and the time the schools should keep, was 
taken out of the hands of the selectmen. 

The early dame schools had been privately sup- 
ported, but they were gradually absorbed into the 
public school system, and we find such entries on 
the town records as : — 

Paid Widow Walker ten shillings for schooling small 
children. 

Paid for boarding schooldame, at three shillings per week. 



32 Old-time Schools and School-books 

However, in some towns no public provision was 
made for the youngest children until after the 
Revolution. 

I have been describing educational conditions 
more particularly as they were in New England. 
Though far from ideal, these conditions were never- 
theless better than in any other part of the country. 
Especially in the South, with its widely separated 
houses and few villages, the environment was in every 
way unfavorable for maintaining public schools. The 
children of wealthy planters were usually taught by 
private tutors, or sent to England to be educated; 
yet once in a while a planter would start a little 
school for the benefit of his own children and the 
other white children who chanced to live on or near 
his plantation. The teachers of such plantation 
schools were apt to be redemptioners and exported 
convicts. In Europe at this time the lot of the 
poor was extremely hard, and many persons came 
across the Atlantic solely to escape the inevitable 
misery at home. The captain of the ship that 
brought over a penniless man of this class was 
allowed to sell him for four years to pay his pas- 
sage. It was also customary to transport men who 
had been convicted of small crimes and sell them 
for periods of greater or less length. When one of 
these unfortunates could read and write, he some- 
times was purchased for a schoolmaster, and teachers 
of this kind were common both in the Southern 
and the Middle colonies. Not infrequently they 
were coarse and degraded, and they did not always 
stay their time out as is witnessed by advertise- 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 33 

ments like the following in the newspapers of the 
period : — 

Ran away : a Servant man who followed the occupation 
of a Schoolmaster, much given to drinking and gambling. 

Among those who bought a bondsman for educa- 
tional purposes was George Washington's father, 
and this bondsman was Washington's first school- 
master. He was a slow, rusty old man by the name 
of Hobby. Besides doing duty as dominie he served 
as sexton, and in the intervals of teaching swept out 
the church and now and then dug a grave. The 
schoolhouse in which he taught is said to have stood 
in an "old plantation field" — a field exhausted by 
successive tobacco crops, and allowed to grow up 
to pines. Tradition relates that Hobby lived long 
enough to see his pupil rise to distinction. He was 
very proud of his own services as the boy's teacher, 
and was wont to boast it was he " who between 
his knees had laid the foundation of Washington's 
greatness." 

After Hobby had laid this " foundation," his 
pupil attended another school for four or five vears 
presided over by a Mr. Williams. If we are to 
believe one of Washington's early biographers, Mr. 
Williams " knew as little as Balaam's ass." Under 
him the boy in playtime became expert in running 
and wrestling, but in his studies failed to acquire 
either correct spelling or the commonest rules of 
English grammar. The book he perhaps learned 
most from at this time was one entitled The Young 
Man s Companion, which apparently came into his 



34 Old-time Schools and School-books 

possession when he was about ten. It claims to 
teach a boy without a tutor " a fhort and eafy 
Method of Book-keeping," how to " fpell, read and 
write true Englifh, indite Epiftles or Letters in a 
familiar ftile," how to make out papers such as 
deeds, bonds, and wills, how to measure timber, and 
do other useful things. 













Facsimile of Washington's Schoolboy Handwriting. 
Reduced one third. 

Blank-books are still preserved into which the 
boy Washington copied various legal forms, some 
poor poetry, and a list of one hundred and ten 
" Rules of Civility and Decent behavior in Com- 
pany and Conversation." The handwriting is round, 
fair, and bold, the letters large like the hand that 
formed them, and the lines run straight and even. 
Sometimes he made ornamental letters with scroll 
work such as clerks were accustomed to use. The 
Rules of Civility were probably taken down from 
the lips of the teacher. They sound rather stiff 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 35 

now, but it was a common thing then to set such 
precepts before children, and Washington very likely 
committed them to memory. They touch on things 
great and small, and in certain instances throw a 
rather curious light on the rude habits of the times. 
How strange, for example, is the admonition, " Kill 
no Vermin as Fleas, lice, ticks, etc., in the Sight of 
Others." 

The Virginia schools long continued to have 
much the same desultory character they had in 




One of the Log Schoolhouses still to be found in the South. 



Washington's youth. A master who kept a plan- 
tation school' in 1800 for a few months tells of one 
of his pupils who was a man thirty years of age. 
Another pupil persisted in coming with two huge 



36 Old-time Schools and School-books 

mastiffs at his heels, and the dogs would uncere- 
moniously enter the schoolroom " bringing with 
them myriads of fleas, wood-lice and ticks." Then 
there were two sisters who rode on a single horse to 
the schoolhouse door, followed by " a running foot- 
man of the negro tribe with their food in a basket." 
The building was of logs. It stood on blocks about 
two and a half feet from the ground, and the space 
underneath formed a convenient rendezvous for 
hogs and poultry. The interior had neither ceiling 
nor plastering. When it stormed, the rain was ex- 
cluded by going outside and propping a square board 
against the window opening with a broken rail — and 
yet the farmers of the neighborhood referred to this 
rude structure as " The Academy." 

The first schoolhouses in the Middle colonies were 
of logs almost exclusively. Such school buildings 
were common in many sections for at least fifty 
years after the Revolution, and among the moun- 
tains they have lingered in use until quite recently. 
The earlier ones had a rough puncheon floor, if they 
had any floor at all. Often there was only the bare 
earth which the children's feet soon rendered very 
dusty. On occasion the youngsters would purposely 
stir up this dust in clouds to annoy the teacher and 
amuse their fellows. Sticks were inserted between 
the logs around the sides of the room at a convenient 
height, and boards were nailed on them to serve as 
desks. Roofs were of bark, and at one end of the 
building was a chimney of short logs laid up cob- 
house fashion and daubed with clay. Many of the 
school-houses, even to the borders of the nineteenth 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 37 

century, had no glass in their windows. The paper 
that served instead was greased with lard to make 
it transparent and less easily affected by wet. 




Inkstand, Sandbox, and Bunch of Uncut Quills. 



The colonial schools had no blackboards and no 
maps, but once in a while a schoolroom in the 
more flourishing communities would possess a globe. 



38 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Slates did not come into general use until about 
1820, and lead pencils not for a good many years 
after that. In filling the pages of their manuscript 
" sum-books " and " copy-books," the children were 
in the habit of using pen and ink exclusively. A 
favorite book of instructions of the period in its 
" Directions to Beginners in Writing " says that the 
necessary implements are 

a pen-knife, quills, paper, good and free ink; likewife a 
flat Ruler for Surenefs ; and a round one for Difpatch ; 
with a leaden Plummet or Pencil to rule Lines : Alfo Gum 
Sandrich Powder with a little Cotton dipped therein, which 
rub gently over the Paper to make it bear Ink the better. 

The pens were goose-quills, and one of the school- 
master's most essential accomplishments was the 
ability to make and mend these pens. Even if he 
was very expert in the art, the making and repairing 
for a large school consumed a good deal of rime. 
Each family was its own ink manufacturer. The 
usual process was to dissolve ink-powder; but many 
of the country folk gathered the bark of swamp- 
maple, boiled it in an iron kettle to give it a more 
perfect black color, and when the decoction was 
thick added copperas. These home-made inks were 
often weak and pallid, and sometimes they dried up. 
Again they were spoiled with grease that got into 
the inkstands at the schoolhouse ; for when there 
were evening meetings in the school building it came 
handy to use the inkstands as candlesticks. 

The paper ordinarily bought for school purposes 
was rough and dark. Its cost, and the scarcity of 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 39 

money, led the scholars to use it sparingly, and in 
the newer and poorer communities children frequently 




A Homemade Copy Book with a Wall-paper Cover. 
Size of original about 10x12. 

ciphered on birch bark. The paper came in foolscap 
size, unruled. For the copy and sum books each 
sheet was folded to make four leaves or eight pages. 
Then enough of these folds were slipped within each 




A Colonial Schoolmaster. 
From Judd's Margaret- 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 41 

It was the rule of the school to have no vacations, 
and because of this rule, or in spite of it, Trumbull, 
who became a pupil as a very small child, could read 
Greek at six years of age, and at twelve was suffi- 
ciently advanced to be admitted to college. 

There is, perhaps, no better record of the appear- 
ance of a typical colonial schoolmaster than is to be 
found in Judd's Margaret : — 

He wore a three-cornered hat. His coat descended in 
long, square skirts, quite to the calves of his legs. He had 
on nankeen small-clothes, white silk stockings, paste knee 
and shoe buckles. His waistcoat was of yellow embossed 
silk with long lappels. The sleeves and skirts of his coat 
were garnished with rows of silver buttons. He wore 
ruffle cuffs ; on his neck was a snow-white linen stock. 
Under his hat appeared a gray wig falling in rolls over his 
shoulders. He had on a pair of turquoise-shell spectacles. 
A golden-headed cane was thrust under his arm. 

I also wish to quote from the reminiscences of 
Alexander Graydon a graphic description of the 
methods of discipline adopted in the school he 
attended in Philadelphia, about 1765. His master, 
an Englishman by the name of Dove, was a humor- 
ist, and it was his practice to substitute humiliation 
for corporal punishment. His birch was rarely 
applied in the usual way, 

but was generally stuck into the back part of the collar of 
the unfortunate culprit, who, with this badge of disgrace 
towering from his nape, was compelled to take his stand 
upon the top of the form for such a period of time as his 
offence was thought to deserve. He had another contriv- 



42 Old-time Schools and School-books 

ance for boys who were late in their morning attendance. 
This was to dispatch a committee of five or six scholars 
for them, with a bell and lighted lantern ; and in this odd 
equipage, in broad daylight, the bell all the while tingling, 
were they escorted through the streets to school. As Dove 
affected a strict regard to justice in his dispensations of 
punishment, and always professed a willingness to have an 
equal measure of it meted out to himself in case of his 
transgressing, the boys took him at his word; and one 
morning, when he had overstaid his time, he found himself 
waited on in the usual form. He immediately admitted the 
justice of the procedure, and, putting himself behind the 
lantern and bell, marched with great solemnity to school, 
to the no small gratification of the boys and entertainment 
of the spectators. 

Later, Graydon entered the Latin School presided 
over by a Scotchman of diminutive figure, named 
Beveridge. Of this master, Graydon says: — 

He was diligent and laborious in his attention to his 
school ; and had he possessed the faculty of making him- 
self beloved by the scholars, and of exciting their emulation 
and exertion, nothing would have been wanting in him to 
an entire qualification for his office. Though not, perhaps, 
to be complained of as intolerably severe, he yet made a 
pretty free use of the rattan and the ferule, but to very 
little purpose. He was, in short, no disciplinarian, and 
consequently very unequal to the management of seventy or 
eighty boys. He was assisted by two ushers, who eased 
him in the burden of teaching, but who, in matters of dis- 
cipline, seemed disinclined to interfere. I have seen them 
slyly slip out of the way when the principal was entering 
upon the job of capitally punishing a boy, who, from his 
size, would be likely to make resistance. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 43 

Various were the rogueries that were played upon him; 
but the most audacious of all was the following. At the 
hour of convening in the afternoon (that being the most 
convenient, from the circumstance of Mr. Beveridge being 
usually a little beyond the time) the bell having rung, the 
ushers being at their posts, and the scholars arranged in 
their classes, three or four of the conspirators conceal them- 
selves without for the purpose of observing the motions 
of their victim. He arrives, enters the school, and is per- 
mitted to proceed until he is supposed to have nearly reached 
his chair at the upper end of the room, when instantly the 
door and every window-shutter is closed. Now, shrouded 
in utter darkness, the most hideous yells that can be con- 
ceived are sent forth from at least three score of throats ; 
and Ovids and Virgils and Horaces, together with the more 
heavy metal of dictionaries, are hurled without remorse at 
the astonished preceptor, who, groping and crawling under 
cover of the forms, makes the best of his way to the door. 
When attained, and light restored, a death-like silence en- 
sues. Every boy is at his lesson : no one has had a hand 
or a voice in the recent atrocity. What, then, is to be 
done ? and who shall be chastised ? 

This outrage, from its succeeding beyond expectation, 
and being entirely to the taste of the school, had a run of 
several days, and was only put a stop to by the interference 
of the faculty. 

The ferule was the standard implement for reform- 
ing the erring pupil, but some masters used a rattan 
or a cowhide. Even a cat-o'-nine-tails was not un- 
known. It was a time when young men were pub- 
licly whipped in colleges, and the seventy of the 
treatment meted out to the pupils in the minor 
schools is not at all surprising. One New York 



44 Old-time Schools and School-books 

master had a short ladder beside his desk, and when 
he called forth a culprit for punishment, the boy 
had to step up on the ladder to receive his caning. 
It is related of a certain rustic schoolmaster that he 
kept a long birch rod with the butt-end resting on 
his chair, so that he could use it without rising. 
Another master would sit with his feet on the table 
and call up all the boys to march around the table 
in single file. As they passed in front of him he 
hit them each in turn with his ruler. In this way, 
though some of the innocent may have suffered, he 
made sure that none of the guilty escaped. But not 
all the discipline in the old schools was muscular. 
Instances are recorded of an offender's being ordered 
out to cut a small branch from a tree, and when he 
returned with it, the teacher squared and partially 
split the larger end and fitted the cleft on the culprit's 
nose. Pinched and ridiculous, the boy was forced 
to stand in full sight of the school until the teacher 
relented. 

In the dame schools premiums of gingerbread 
were now and then bestowed for good behavior, but 
these were not a chief reliance in the cultivation of 
virtue. Most dames had great faith in a thimble 
tapped sharply on the delinquents' craniums. Whis- 
perers were sometimes compelled to silence by hav- 
ing inserted in their mouths a short stick, like the 
bit of a bridle, with strings at the ends which could 
be tied at the back of the head. There were schools 
where transgressors were made to stand on the 
benches and wear dunce caps, or huge leather spec- 
tacles; or they might have pinned to their persons 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 45 

large labels lettered, " Lying Ananias," or " Idle 
Boy," or whatever the teacher thought was appropri- 
ate to the case. Occasionally a child rebelled when 
punished and attempted revenge. Thus, in a Boston 
dame school, where the teacher had a habit of pin- 
ning naughty pupils 
to the cushion of her 
chair, one rogue, 
while fastened in 
this way, contrived 
to pin the dame's 
gown to the same 
article. When she 
rose she carried 
cushion and boy 
with her, to the 
great consternation 
of all concerned. 

Books written 
especially for school 
use increased in 
number with the 
passing years ; but 
almost without ex- 
ception they were 
of English authorship, and most were of British 
printing. 

A text-book with an individuality all its own was 
The History of Genesis, published in 1708. It was 
made up of short narratives retold from the first 
book of the Bible. To add to its attractiveness 
there were numerous illustrations. What the vol- 



the 

HISTORY 

O F 

GENESIS. 

BEING 
An Account of the Holy Lives and 
Actions of the Patriarchs 5 explained 
with Pious and Edifying Explicati- 
ons, and illuftrated with near Forty 
Figures. 

Fitted for the Ufe of Schools, and recom- 
mended to Teachers of Children, as a 
Book very proper for the learning them 
to read Englifh, and inftructing them in 
the right underftanding of thefe Divine 
Hiftorys. 

Part of the Title-page of an Early Reli- 
gious School-book. 

Reduced one-third. 



4 6 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



ume aspired to do for youthful students can best be 
shown by an extract from the Preface. 

This Book of Genefis (the antienteft Writing now 
extant) is justly (tiled the Epitome of all Divinity. It is 
indeed a great Bleffing of God, That Children in England 




Noah's Ark, as depicted in The History of Genesis. 



have liberty to read the holy Scriptures, when others abroad 
are denied it. And yet alas ! how often do we fee Parents 
prefer Tom Thumb, Guy of Warwick, or fome fuch foolish 
Book, before the Book of Life! Let not your Children 
read thefe vain Books, profane Ballads, and filthy Songs. 
Throw away all fond and amorous Romances, and fabu- 
lous Hiftories of Giants, the bombaft Achievements of 
Knight Errantry, and the like ; for thefe fill the Heads 
of Children with vain, filly and idle imaginations. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 47 



The Publifher, therefore, of this Hiftory of Genefis, 
being fenfible how ufeful a Work of this Nature might be 
for Schools, hopes it 
will meet with a gen- 
eral Acceptance. 



THE 

Child's Wee\s-wr\ : 

O R, 

A Little Book, 

So nicely Suited to the 

#enfa£ an* Capacftp 

LITTLE CHILD, 

Both for 

Matter and Method, 



One of the earli- 
estelementary books 
of the century was 
entitled The Child's 
Weeks-work. It was 
a compilation of 
lessons for each 
day of four weeks. 
Among other things 
there were proverbs, 
fables, a section de- 
voted to " Behav- 
ior," and "A Short 
Catechifm fitted for 
the Ufe of Children 
after they have faid 
their Prayers." But 
the oddest feature 
was the insertion 
here and there of 
conundrums and 
anecdotes. Several 
of the former and one of the latter follow : — 



That it will infallibly Allure and Lead 
him on into a Way of 

READING 

With all the Eafe and Expedi- 
tion that can bedefired. 



By Militant Eonfcffep 



LONDON, 

Printed for G. Conyers and J. Kjchardfon., 
in Little Britain. 1712. 



Title-page of The Child's Weeks-work. 
Reduced one-third. 



£)ueft. What's that which is higher fitting than ftand- 



ing 



Anfw. It is a Dog. 



4 8 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



^ueft. A long Tail, a Tongue and a Mouth 
Full fifty feet above the Ground, 
'Tis heard both Eaft, IV eft, North and South, 
A mile or two all round. 

Anfw. It is a Bell in a Steeple. 

^ueft. I never 
Spoke but once. 

Anfw. It is Ba- 
laam's Afs. 

A Countryman 
being preft 
for a Soldier, was 
engaged in a Fight, 
and at his return 
was aflc'd, what 
Manly Acts he had 
done, he anfwer'd 
he had cut off one 
of the Enemy's 
legs. Oh ! faid 
the other, you had 
done much more 
like a ftout Man, 
if vou had cut off 
his Head : Oh ! 
faid he, that was 
off before. 



Somewhat al- 
lied to the two 
books just de- 
scribed, in their 
distinctly reli- 




A Tree of Knowledge Frontispiece, 
From The London Spelling- Book. 1710- 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 49 



gious character, 
was "The Prot- 
estant Tutor, in- 
structing Youth 
and Others, in 
the compleat 
method of Spel- 
ling, Reading, 
and Writing, 
True Englifh : 
Alfo difcovering 
to them the No- 
torious Errors, 
Damnable Doc- 
trines, and cruel 
MaJJacres of the 
bloody Papifts, 
which England 
may expect 
from a Pop- 
ifh Successor : 
Printed by and 
for Tho. Norris, 
and fold at the 
Looking-glafs 
on L ondon- 
Bridge." The 
title-page from 
which this is 

taken is dated 17 15, but there were earlier editions, 
and the book apparently enjoyed a considerable cir- 
culation. The lessons included the alphabet, a few 




An Illustrated Alphabet in The London Spelling- 
Book. 



5° 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



pages of spelling words and easy reading lessons, 
but mostly were made up of rabid anti-Catholic 
matter illustrated with dreadful pictures of persecu- 
tions and of heaven, hell, death, and the judgment. 




A bird in the hand is worth two in the bufh. 
Fable XU. Off be Fifijermnn and the Fijh. 

The Fisherman with " a bird in the hand." 
From Dilworth's A New Guide to the English Tongue- 

Only infrequent copies of the text-books I have 
mentioned wandered to our shores ; nor were any 
school-books imported in quantity until the publi- 
cation of Dilworth's A New Guide to the English 
Tongue, in 1740. This was the most popular speller 
of the eighteenth century. A portrait of Dilworth 
with a scholastic cap on his head and a pen in his 
hand served for a frontispiece ; and, in truth, as the 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 51 




He that will not help himfelf, fhall have help from 

nobody. 

Fable I. Of the IVaggoner and Hercules. 

AS a waggoner was driving his team, his wag- 
gon funk into a hole, and (luck faft. 
The poor man immediately fell upon his kneesi 
and prayed to Hercules, that he would get his wag- 
gon out of the hole again. 

Thou fool, fays Hercules, whip thy horfes, and 
fet thy ihoulder to the wheels; and then if thou 
wilt call upon Hercules he will, help thee. 

The Interpretation.. 

Lazy wifhes never doa Man any fervice ; but if he would 
have help from God in time of need, lei him not only implore 
his airiilance, buc_makeLufeof h»s own bed endeavours. 

From Dilworth's A New Guide to the English Tongue. 



5 2 



Old-time Schools and School-books 




Evil be to him thac evil think. Alfo, give a 

cruft to a furly dog, and he will bite you. 
Fable X. Of the good natured Man and the Adder, 

A Good natured man being obliged to go out 
in frolty weather, on his return home found 
an adder almoft frozen to death, which he brought 
home with him and laid before the fire. 

As foon as the creature had received frefli life 
by the warmth, and was come to herfelf, fhe. be- 
gan to hifs, and fly about the houfe, and at length 
killed one of the children. 

Well, faid the man, if this is the beft return 
that you'ean make for my kind offices, you fhall 
even mare the fame fate yourfelf ; and fo killed 
her immediately. 

The Interpretation. 
Ingratitude is one of the blackeft crime* that a man can be 
guilty of: It is hateful to God and man, and frequently brings 
upon fuch a gracclefs wretchall that mifchief which he either did 
Or thought to do to another. 

From Dilworth's A New Guide to the English Tongue. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 53 

greatest school-book author of his time he was not 
unworthy of the honor. The spelling words were 
interspersed with much religious reading and dismal 
moralizing, but as an offset to this matter there was 
"A Select Number of Fables, adorned with proper 
Sculptures." 

Two of the fable pages are reproduced entire. 
The other illustration, delineating the fisherman, is 
accompanied by the following story : — 

AFifherman having caft his line into the water pres- 
ently drew up a Fifh. 
The little captive intreated the fifherman that he would 
fpare her (f he being but fmall) till fhe was grown larger ; 
and then fhe would fuft'er herfelf to be taken by him again. 
No, no, replied the fifherman, I am not to be fo ferved. 
If I let you go, I muft never fee you any more : I was 
always of that temper that whatever I could catch I had 
rather take it away than leave it behind me. 

The Interpretation. 
Never let go a certainty for an uncertainty. 

The only speller to seriously rival Dilworth's in 
circulation during the remainder of the colonial 
period was Fenning's, which appeared in 1755. ^e- 
sides " Tables of Words," this contained " Leffons 
both moral and divine, Fables and pleafant Stories, 
and a very eafy and approved Guide to Englifh 
Grammar." There was also some minor material 
including a chronology of " the moft remarkable 
Occurrences in Sacred and profane History," that 
had in it items like : — 



54 Old-time Schools and School-books 



THE Creation of the World 
Noah's Flood . 
Walls of 'Jericho fell down 
Eleven Days fucceffive Snow 
A very great Comet . 
A terrible high Wind, November 
The furprifing Meteor and Signs in the A 



B.C. 4047 

. 2350 

• 1454 

A.D. 1674 

. 1680 

. I7O3 

• i7 J 9 



Here is one of the " Fables " : — 




The Town in Danger. 
From Fenning's The Universal Spelling-Book, 



T 



HERE was a Town in Danger of being befieged, and 
it was coniulted which was the beft Way to fortify 
and ftrengthen it ; and many were the different Opinions 
of the Town Folks concerning it. 

A grave fkilful Mafon faid, there was nothing fo ftrong 




Frontispiece to Fenning's The Universal Spelling-Book. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century $$ 

nor fo good as Stone. A Carpenter faid, that Stone might 
do pretty well ; but, in his Opinion, good ftrong Oak was 
much better. 

A currier being prefent, faid, Gentlemen, you may do 
as you pleafe ; but to have the Town well fortified and 
fecure, take my Word, there is nothing like Leather. 

. MORAL. 

' Tis too common for Men to confult their own private Ends, 
though a whole Nation Juffer by it. 

Then here is one of the " pleafant Stories " : — 

THERE were feveral Boys that ufed to go into the 
Water, inftead of being at fchool ; and they fome- 
times ftaid fo long that they ufed to frighten their Parents 
very much ; and though they were told of it Time after 
Time, yet they would frequently go to wafh themfelves. 
One Day four of them, Smithy Brown, Jones and Robin/on, 
took it into their Heads to play Truant, and go into the 
Water. They had not been in long before Smith was 
drowned : Browns Father followed him, and lafhed him 
heartily while he was naked ; and Jones and Robinfon ran 
Home half dreffed, which plainly told where they had been. 
However, they were both fent to Bed without any Supper, 
and told very plainly, that they fhould be well corrected at 
School next Day. 

By this time the News of Smith's being drowned, had 
reached their Mafter's Ear, and he came to know the 
Truth of it and found Smith's Father and Mother in 
Tears, for the Lofs of him ; to whom he gave very good 
Advice, took his friendly Leave, and went to fee what was 
become of Brown, Jones and Robinfon, who all hung down 
their Heads upon feeing their Mafter ; but more fo, when 



56 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



their Parents defired that he would correct them the next 
Day, which he promifed he would ; though, fays he, (by 
the bye) it is rather your Duty to do it than mine, for I 
cannot anfwer for Things done out of the School. 

Do you, therefore, take Care to keep your Children in 
Order at Home, and depend on it, fays the Mafter, I will 
keep them in Awe of me at School. But, fays he, as they 




The Truant Boys. 
From Fenning's The Universal Spelling-Book. 

have been naughty difobedient Boys, and might indeed 
have loft their Lives, I will certainly chaftife them. 

Next Day, Brown, Tories and Robin/on were Cent to School, 
and in a fhort time were called up to their Mafter; and he 
firft began with Brown. — Pray, young Gentleman, fays 
he, what is the Reafon you go into the Water without the 
Confent of your Parents ? — I won't do fo any more, fays 
Broivn. — That is nothing at all, fays the Mafter, I can- 
not truft you. Pray can you fvvim ? — No, Sir, fays Broivn. 
— Not fwim, do you fay! Why you might have been 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 57 

drowned as well as Smith. — Take him up fays the 
Mafter. — So he was taken up and well whipt. 

Well, fays he to Jones, can you fwim ? — A little, Sir, 
laid he. — A little ! why you were in more danger than 
Brown, and might have been drowned had you ventured 
much farther. — Take him up, fays he. 

Now Robinfon could fwim very well, and thought as 
Brown and Jones were whipt becaufe they could not fwim, 
that he would efcape. — Well, Robinfon, fays the Mafter, 
can you fwim ? — Yes, Sir, fays he, (very boldly) any where 
over the River. — Pray, Sir, fays his Mafter, what Bufi- 
nefs had you in the Water, when you fhould have been at 
School ? — Take him up, fays he ; fo they were all feverely 
corrected for their Difobedience and Folly. 




Virtuous Tommy gives Naughty Harry some Good Advice. 
From Fenning's The Universal SpellingBook, 

The next story is a most vivid contrast of good 
and evil as personified by virtuous Tommy and 



58 Old-time Schools and School-books 







Frontispiece to The British Instructor; 

Being a Plain and Eafy Guide to the Englifh Language on a Plan Entirely New.' 
London, 1763. 



naughty Harry. The latter was " A fullen perverfe 
Boy from his Cradle," while Tommy was "good- 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 59 

natured, pleafant and mannerly." Hence Tommy 
becomes a great and rich man while Harry sinks 
to poverty and wretchedness and crime. Finally, 






Ferret 



Yawle 





Selections from a series of Alpha- 
bet Illustrations in The British 
Instructor. 



to escape arrest, Harry 
took flight by sea ; but 
" Divine Vengeance " fol- 
lowed him, the ship was 
wrecked, and though he 
was cast up on the shore 
he soon afterward " be- 
came a Prey to wild 
Beafts, which God fuffered 
to tear him in Pieces, as 
the juft Reward of his 
Difobedience and mifpent 
Life." 
In the miscellany of the latter part of the book 

are directions for making both black and red ink. 

The red ink recipe is : — 

TAKE Half a Pint of Water, and put therein Half an 
Ounce of Gum Senega ; let this diffolve in a Galli- 
pot, and then add one Pennyworth of the beft Vermilion, 
ftirring it well for two Days. 



Yoake, 




60 Old-time Schools and School-books 

That stirring for two days makes it sound like a 
weary process. In some books the ink recipes 
were supplemented by a paragraph like this : — 

IN hard frofty weather, Ink will be apt to freeze ; which 
if it once doth, it will be good for nothing; it takes 
away all its Blacknefs and Beauty. To prevent which put 
a few Drops of Brandy into it, and it will not freeze. And 
to hinder its moulding put a little fait therein. 

One of the handsomest spellers of colonial days 
was "WATTS's Compleat SPELLING-BOOK." 
Its contents included, besides the ordinary spelling- 
book matter, " Praxes on Words of different Sylla- 
bles ; Portions of Scripture; a Short History of 
England; and Directions for writing the Round 
Hand, and Round Text, and the Italian Hand." 
In connection with the writing directions there are 
two or three pages of sentences designed for copies. 
I quote from these several maxims in a list of 
" Moral Instructions, beginning with every Letter 
of the Alphabet." 

Grow quiet and eafy, when Fools ftrive to tieze ye. 
Remember the Liar, has his Part in Hell-fire. 
X Excufe but with Truth, the Follies of Youth. 

Concerning the last a foot-note says: — 

The Letter X begins no Englifh Word fo that we might 
begin that line with EX, unlefs the Reader will choofe this 
inftead of it, viz. 

X is fuch a crofs Letter, balks my Morals and Metre. 

The quotations which follow are portions of 
lessons in a book that was made up from a number 



GEORGE III. by the Grace of 
GOD, of Great-Britain, 
France and Ireland, King, 
Defender of the Faith. 




la ev'ry Stroke, in ev'ry Line, 
Does fome exalted Virtue fhine J 
And Albion s Happinefs we trace, 
In every Feature of his Face. 

Frontispiece to Watts' s Compleat Spelling-Book, 1770, 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 61 

of English spellers and published in Boston in 1770 
under the title, The Youth's Inftructor in the Englifh 
Tongue, Or the Art of Spelling Improved. It claimed 
to be "a more plain eafy and regular Method of 
teaching young children than any other Book of this 
kind and Bignefs extant." 

The Defcription of a good Boy. 

THE boy that is good 
Does mind his book well; 
And if he can't read 
Will ftrive for to fpell. 

His fchool he does love ; 

And when he is there, 
For plays and for toys, 

No time can he fpare. 

Of taking God's Name in vain. 

TO mention God, no man has juft pretence, 
But to his honour, or the truth's defence. 
In common talk, where trifles moft abound, 
God, Chrift or Lord ftrikes horror with the found. 
Nor fhould we dare appeal to him on high, 
To gain belief, or to atteft a lie, 
Thus to abufe that name, if man prefume, 
The third Commandment loudly fpeaks their doom. 
Yet fome, alas ! in every trivial caufe, 
To ftop a gap in fpeech, or for a paufe ; 
Or to fill up the fentence, at each word, 
From mouths unhallow'd, breathe, Chrift, God or Lord. 
Good Lord, if e'er fuch monsters I come nigh, 
From their ill ways give me the grace to fly. 



62 Old-time Schools and School-books 




The Inside of the First Leaf of A New Battledoor. 
Reduced one-third. 



H 



Againft Songs or Ballads. 

ATE vulgar impious Tongs, a wretched chime, 
Where fulfome nonfenfe jingles into rhyme. 




An American Reprint of A New Battledoor. 
Size of original, 4 x 65 inches. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 63 

Of Man. 

Lord what is man ! a dunghill blanched with fnow, or a 
May game of fortune, a mark for malice, a butt for envy; 
He is born crying, lives laughing and dies groaning! 

For acquiring the elements of education the 
hornbook still held its humble place among the 
school publications. Another help somewhat related 
to the hornbook was the "battledore" — a folded 
card of two or three leaves with a little flap like an 
old-time pocket-book. The battledores were essen- 
tially little illustrated primers ; the price was from a 




w_m_ 




A Heading from a Manuscript Arithmetic of Colonial Days. 
Reduced one-half. 

penny to fourpence, and they found ready sale. 
One English publisher in ten years sold upwards 
of a hundred thousand, and many other firms were 
issuing them at the same time. They are said first 
to have been put on the market in 1746. The 
earlier ones were covered outside with Dutch gilt 
embossed paper, and the inner, printed side was 
varnished. Later the varnish and the fancy outer 
pasting of gilt paper were omitted and the entire 
folder, outside and in, was printed. Battledores were 



6 4 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



comparatively little used in this country after the 
Revolution, but in England they were common for 
fifty years longer. 

The colonial teachers usually taught arithmetic 



tJs*~J. L~~*r£i~ 










J-^ 






4$ 






** 






'fllJti/JLr 






Page from a Manuscript Arithmetic of Colonial Days. 
Reduced one-half, The original book is a quarto of one hundred pages with a card- 
board cover. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 6$ 

without text-books. They gave out to their scholars 
rules and problems from manuscript sum-books 
which the schoolmasters had themselves made 
under their teachers. It was such a sum-book that 




He t*m 


more of fhine txaUc 


c* ucuhl know, Y 


Onfh-t 


■v book: 


ei him fctire 


Thoughts beflow.1 


Dee? Qj, 




Rl-THME-TiCK here an t 


Demotifliated by RL'J.ESfo 


I'lain, fo Rare,J 


Xtvr k 


Self mull 


reetk conic 




Read all the £mh 


i'th.' World, 


jca'il isnd I&oej 








[Such. 



HOVDERh 
ARITHMETICK 



NecetfaryART 

Made Moft Eafie ; 

Being expiain'd m a v/ayfami&ai 
to t&< Capacity of any that de< 
fire to- learn it in a tittle Twit. 



OR, THAT 



By J^oddtty Wiiting-Mafter. 



Ibt 4*lwn an* ClsRitiefls CWrton, #*■ 
*»/M. AtgKiisttsl, ami itimi a i ■ 
Fault* Amrtdtd, 



jgy William Harne, Philomath. 



tO N DO D: 
Primed (or D. hlidvjmitr, J Bettt/Kvsrth. 

C. B'ch, R. RAi«J<m, A. Ward, J. 

P. K-.aflon, T. Lmgman, C. BalbwJI, 
. -J. Clark, ixtDrnt-Uu, 1739. 



Frontispiece and Title-page of a Colonial Arithmetic. 
Reduced one-half. 



the boy Abraham Lincoln copied while he was learn- 
ing arithmetic ; for even at that date the old method 
of teaching without a text-book survived here and 
there. Many scholars in the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries never saw a printed arithmetic, 



66 Old-time Schools and School-books 



and when a master chanced to own a copy, most of 
it was likely to be quite incomprehensible to the 

average pupil. 
One of the ear- 
liest to attain 
favor was Cock- 
er's Arithmetic : 
"Being a Plain 
and fa mi li ar 
Method, fui ta- 
ble to the mean- 
eft Capacity, for 
the understand- 
ing of that in- 
com parable 
Art." It was 
first printed in 
1677. Later 
came H odder s^ 
and in 1743 The 
Schoolmafter's 
AJJiJtant by 
Thomas Dil- 
worth. Dil- 
worth's book 
was still in use 
to some extent 
at the beginning 
of the last cen- 
tury. One can judge from the fact that it makes no 
allusion to decimal currency it could not by then have 
been very well adapted to American requirements. 




Frontispiece to The Schoolmaster s Assistant. 
Reduced one third. 



Colonial Schools of the Eighteenth Century 67 

Among the books concerned with the dead lan- 
guages, Bailey's English and Latin Exercises for 
School-Boys was very popular. It was made up 
sandwich fashion from cover to cover of alternat- 
ing paragraphs of English and Latin, one a transla- 
tion of the other. Some of the material would 
hardly find place in a school-book of to-day, as, for 
instance : — 

Joan is a nafty Girl. 

Ugly Witches are faid to have been black Cats. 

The Report of the great Portion of an unmarried Virgin 
is oftentimes the Sound of a great Lye. 

Greedy Gluttons buy many dainty Bits for their ungodly 
Guts. 

Children drink Brimftone and Milk for the Itch. 

If we fhould compare the Number of good and virtuous 
Perfons to the Multitude of the Wicked, it would be but 
very fmall. 

Toward the close of the book are several of those 
excessively polite conversations between Master and 
Scholar such as were frequently inserted in the early 
school-books. From Dialogue III in this Latin 
book I take enough to show the manner of them. 

Scholar. Sir, I entreat, that you would be pleas'd to 
grant me my requeft. 

Mafter. If my grant may profit thee, I will not deny ; 
if thou afk thofe things, that tend to thine own Hurt, I 
muft refufe. 

Scholar. I only beg, Sir, that you would repeat to me 
thofe Inftructions that you gave to our Form Yefterday. 



68 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Thus they go on through a number of pages, and 
at the conclusion the Scholar says, " I thank you, 
honored Sir." 

4. O^Zaara, or the Desart. 

Tyro. How is this Defart fituate ? 

Philo. Zaara is bounded on the N. by 
Bildulgerid, on the E. by Egypt and Nu- 
bia, on the S. by Negro-Land, and on the 
W. by the Atlantic Ocean. 

Portion of Page from Fenning's A New and Easy Guide to the Use of the 
Globes, 1760. 

The ordinary binding of all these colonial school- 
books was full leather, even when the books were 
small and thin. Illustrations were used sparingly, 
and the drawing and engraving were very crude. 
The volumes of English manufacture were as a rule 
well printed on good paper ; but the American 
editions were quite inferior, and they continued to 
make a poor appearance as compared with the trans- 
Atlantic books until after the middle of the nine- 
teenth century. The most marked typographical 
contrasts to the present that one observes is the use 
of the long s, that looks like an /, and the habit of 
printing beneath the final line of each page the first 
word of the page following. The catchwords and 
long s were employed up to 1800, but within the 
first decade of the new century they were entirely 
abandoned. 



Ill 

THE NEW ENGLAND PRIMER 

ORIGINALLY a "primer" was a book of 
private devotions. The earliest books thus 
named contained devotions for the hours, 
the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command- 
ments, a few psalms, and some simple instruction in 
Christian knowledge. They date back almost to 
the time when type-printing was invented. Before 
that time the only way of producing books had been 
by laboriously copying them with brush or pen, letter 
by letter. Learning, and even knowledge how to 
read, were confined to the very few. But type- 
printing reduced the cost of books so materially 
that they were possible in the homes of the people, 
and it at once became desirable that the rudiments 
of language should be put within reach of the many 
who now wished to learn to read. In consequence 
an alphabet was often included in the little devo- 
tional primers, and this led presently to giving the 
name " primer " to all elementary books for the use 
of children. 

The contents of the old-time primers changed, 

but for hundreds of years the teaching of religion 

and reading continued united in them. No other 

way could have been devised to mould the religious 

69 



70 Old-time Schools and School-books 

thought of the people so effectively. The need of 
guiding public sentiment on this subject was plainly 
apparent ; for those who studied the Bible did not 
understand its teachings alike, and printing no sooner 
gave the Scriptures a wide distribution than divergent 
opinions multiplied. The Bible itself does not con- 
tain a distinct creed, nor does it tell us what to think 
about it — hence the importance of setting forth the 
simple tenets of religion in a form for general dis- 
tribution. The primers were an especially valuable 
medium, because they went to the fountain head. 
Their precepts were instilled in minds as yet un- 
formed, and the children were drilled to believe 
what they were to think out for themselves when 
they were more mature. 

One trouble, however, was that primers from 
different sources did not present the truth alike, 
and successive rulers from Henry VIII down tried 
to control their teachings. The unauthorized books 
were seized and burned, and preachers and printers 
guilty of preparing and distributing them were 
whipped, imprisoned, and put to death. But their 
production could not be stifled, and after the reign 
of James II, the people were allowed to have such 
primers and catechisms as they chose. 

No doubt the early settlers of New England pos- 
sessed primers that they brought across the ocean 
with them. The family Bible and primer occupied 
the same shelf in the pioneer homes, and from the 
primer the children were faithfully catechised every 
Sabbath day. The exact date of the first issue of 
the " New England " primer is not known, but 



The New England Primer 71 

below is the earliest mention that has been dis- 
covered of a primer with that name. It is from a 
Boston "Almanack for the year of the Chriftian 
Empire, 1691." 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

_> There is now in the Prefs, and will Suddenly 
be extant, a Second Impreflion of The New- Eng- 
land Primer enlarged, to which is added, more 
Directions for Spelling ; the Prayer o/K. Edward 
the 6th. and Vtrfa made by Mr. Rogers the Mar- 
*y r -> ie f f as * Legacy to his Children. 

Sold by Benjamin Harris, at the London Coffze- 
Honfe in BoJlon t 

The Earliest Mention known of The New England Primer. 
From Newman's News from the Stars- Boston, 1690. 

This Harris had formerly been a printer in Lon- 
don where he brought out many tracts and broad- 
sides of a religious or political character. He was 
a man of considerable enterprise and ingenuity and 
wrote both in verse and prose much of what he 
printed. In 1 68 1 a " Protestant Petition " he put 
forth got him into trouble with the government, 
which at that time was inclined toward Catholicism, 
and he was fined five hundred pounds and con- 
demned to stand in the pillory. This apparently 
ruined his business, and we hear no more of him 
till 1686, when he arrived in Boston and became the 
proprietor of a book and coffee shop. Soon he 
was publishing pamphlets and circulars, and among 



72 Old-time Schools and School-books 

other ventures he started a newspaper under the 
title of Public Occurrences, which was the first 
newspaper printed in America. 

The general plan of the primer sent forth by 
Harris was old, but the compilation had new fea- 
tures, and its name lent it an aspect of originality. 
In New England and the neighboring colonies it 
promptly became an institution. Every home pos- 
sessed copies, and they were for sale at all the 
town and village bookshops. Occasionally printers 
changed the title, and called it The New Tork 
Primer, or The American Primer, or The Columbian 
Primer; but the public preferred the New Eng- 
land title. For a hundred years this book beyond 
any other was the school-book of American dissent- 
ers. Its power waned rapidly later. The cities 
abandoned it first, and gradually it was neglected 
in the villages. Still, even in Boston, it was used 
in the dame schools as late as 1806. Its total sales 
are estimated to have been not less than three 
million copies. Astonishingly few of these have 
been preserved, and early editions are among the 
rarest of school-books. All issued previous to 1700 
have vanished, and only a few score have survived 
of those that were published during the next cen- 
tury when it was in the zenith of its popularity. 
The oldest perfect copy known is one printed in 
Boston in 1735. This was picked up by a Pennsyl- 
vania teacher at a farm-house auction in 1893 f° r 
twelve cents. Ten years later he sold it to a New 
York dealer for $2500. 

The newspapers heralded this sale throughout the 



The New England Primer 



73 



country, arousing much interest in the old primers, 
and giving to the average owner a fabulous idea of 



\ 






,. i 



A Characteristic Bindiru 



Showing the oak sides, with portions of the blue paper which was pasted over the wood 
still adhering. 

the value of his possession. As a matter of fact 
the chances are that five to twenty dollars is as much 



74 Old-time Schools and School-books 



as could be realized 
even for copies ante- 
dating 1800. Any- 
thing more recent is 
seldom worth over a 
dollar or two. 

The covers of the 
New England prim- 
ers were usually ot 
thin oak, that 
cracked and splin- 
tered badly with 
use, in spite of the 
coarse blue paper 
which was pasted 
over the wood. The 
back was of leather. 
Neither back nor 
sides had any print- 
ing on them. Most 
editions of the primer 
contained a frontis- 

Frontispiece to a Brookfield. Mass., edition piece. For this a 




Children, like tender oziers, take the bow, 
And as they first are fashioned always 

grow. 
For -what we learn in youth, to that 

alone, 
In age wc are by second nature prone. 



of 1828. 



Published by the firm which later became famous 
as the publishers of Webster's Dictionary. 



rudely engraved 
portrait of the reign- 
ing English monarch 
was customary until the Revolution, when one or 
another of the American patriots had the honor. 
After the war Washington was the favorite frontis- 
piece character. Sometimes a school scene was 
substituted, as in the cut reproduced from the 
Brookfield edition. This same picture is to be 



The New England Primer 

found in a Boston book of 1791, but the 
underneath it was — 

The School-Mam, fee, whofe only care, 
Is to inftruct her tender youth, 

How they may vice's ways beware, 

And tread the fteps of peace and truth. 



75 
verse 



THE 

PRIMER, 

OR AN 

EASY a:nd pleasant 

GUIDE T& THE ART OF READING, 

TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

) , THE 

CATECHISM 




CQJYCOUD,jV. m. 

1 ' '•«yBM8HKD Asra-aogD by i.isB w. r. aiii, at vnagp v'om 
.' *V -8T9Bf — 181*. 



A Title-page. 



76 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Every primer had a page devoted to the alphabet, 
followed by two pages of those curious word frag- 
ments, " ab, eb, ib, ob, ub," etc., which the book 
itself calls " Easy syllables for Children." Then 
came three pages of words grading up from those of 

one syllable to " a- 
Easy syllables for Children. bo-mi-na-ti-on" 
Ba be bi bo bu and a few others of 

six syllables. 1 he 
rest of the book is 
almost entirely a 
religious and moral 
miscellany of verse 
and prose gathered 
from all sorts of 
sources. Prominent 
in this miscellany is 
a picture alphabet 
— a series of twenty- 
four tiny pictures, 
each accompanied 
by a two or three line 
jingle. Apparently 
two of the letters are 
slighted, but not 
really — for it was 
customary to teach 
that J was simply I with another name, and that 
U and V were likewise identical. One must grant 
that the pictures are expressive in spite of their 
diminutive size. The artist took care to get every- 
thing he could into them that would help the text. 



ca 
da 
fa 


ce 
de 
fe 


Cl 

di 


CO 

do 
fo 


cu 
du 
fu 


ha 


ge 
he 


Si 
hi 


Z 


Z 


ka 
la 


ke 

le 


ji 
ki 
li 


jo 
ko 
lo 


ku 
lu 


ma 


me 


mi 


mo 


mu 


na 


ne 


ni 


no 


nu 


pa 

ra 


pe 
re 


P. 1 
ri 


po 
ro 


pu 
ru 


sa 
ta 


se 
te 


si 
ti 


so 
to 


su 
tu 


va 


ve 


vi 


vo 


vu 


wa 


we 


wi 


wo 


wu 


y a 

zu 


ye 

ze 


yi 

zi 


y« 

zo 


yu 

zu 



The New England Primer 77 

In the first series reproduced, notice the apple tree 
in the garden of Eden. It is all there, and you can 
plainly see the apples among the leaves. The tree 
that Zaccheus did climb is also shown practically 
entire ; and how effectively Noah's Ark is brought 
out sailing on the flooded world while in the back- 
ground the forked lightning plays in the black clouds. 
Then there are Felix and Paul with the judgment as 
distinct before them as if it was in the same room ; 
and opposite the letter T, how horrid sin is made to 
appear ! — no wonder that young Timothy flies ! 

This rhyming method of teaching the alphabet 
is much older than The New England Primer, but 
the little book gave the old idea fresh expression. 
The primer rhymes are thought to have originated 
with the Boston printer Harris, as the poetry he 
was in the habit of manufacturing had much the 
same character. They were always being changed, 
however, sometimes merely in wording, sometimes 
in subject, and the only one of the twenty-four that 
remained unaltered was — 

In Adam's Fall 
We finned all. 

That seemed to find general acceptance as a desirable 
fact to promulgate in exactly those words. The new 
features in the jingles were in part casual changes 
made by the printers, and in part were a result of 
the feeling that many of the rhymes earlier adopted 
were too earthy in their sentiment. 

The Cat doth play, 
And after flay, 



Old-time Schools and School-books 




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The New England Primer 



19 



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Old-time Schools and School-books 






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The New England Primer 



81 




eo.5 »2 *C 








82 Old-time Schools and School-books 

and the similar couplets, were gradually rewritten and 
given religious significance. 

Another curious change found in some of the 
primers was connected with the K rhyme. At first 
this read : — 

King Charles the Good 

No Man of blood. 

But by the time of the Revolution praise of royalty 
was not as acceptable as it had been, and rhymes like 
the following were substituted : — 

Kings fhould be good 
No men of blood. 

Britain's King in fpleen 
Lost States thirteen. 

Queens and Kings 
Are Gaudy Things. 

In addition to the picture alphabet there was an 
unillustrated one of " Leffons for Youth." Three 
of the short precepts will suffice to show what stern 
stuff was put into these lessons : — 

FOOLISHNESS is bound up in the Heart of a 
Child, but the Rod of correction fhall drive it 
from him. 



L 



IARS fhall have their Part in the Lake which 
burns with Fire and Brimftone. 



UPON the Wicked God fhall rain an Horrible 
Tempeft. 



The New England Primer 



83 



The letter X presented difficulties that were got- 
ten around in this way : — 

E A^HORT one another daily, while it is called To 
Yv Day, left any of you be hardened thro' the 
Deceitfulnefs of Sin. 



The feature of 
most interest was 
Rogers burning 
at the stake, with 
his wife and ten 
children look- 
ing on. Every 
youthful primer 
owner counted 
those children 
to make sure the 
statement of the 
text as to their 
number was cor- 
rect. Of course 
the readers never 
suspected that 
the scene in the 
engraving was at 
all fictitious — 
yet history only 
records of Rog- 
ers's wife and 
children that 
they "met him 



'the primer that perhaps aroused 
an illustration depicting Mr. John 




MR. JohnRogers, minifterof the 
gofpel in London, was the firft mar- 
tyr in Queen Mary's reign, and was 
burnt at Smithfie.ld, February 14, 1554. — His 
wife with nine small children, and one at 
her breast following him to the flake; with 
which forrowful fight he was not in the 
leaft daunted, but with wonderful patience 
died courageoully for the gofpel of J e s u a 
Christ. 

The Rogers Page. 
From the Webster edition of 1843. 



84 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



by the way as he went toward Smithfield," his 
place of martyrdom. In connection with this tragic 
picture is printed a long poem of practical and 
spiritual exhortation that purports to be of Rogers's 
authorship. 

Some few Days before his Death he writ the 
following Advice to his Children, 

says the heading, but in truth the composition was 

the work of another 
martyr who met his 
death a year later 
than Rogers. The 
poem attained con- 
siderable popularity 
among the Puritans 
before it was in- 
cluded in the primer. 
Another long 
poem to be found 
in most primers was 
A Dialogue between 
Chrift, Touth, and 
the Devil. It starts 




A Rude Primer Cut purporting to show John 
Rogers being burned at the Stake. 

An officer stands on the right, and Mr. Rogers's wife 
and ten children on the left. 



ith a declaration on the part of the Youth that 

Thofe days which God to me doth fend, 
In pleafure I'm refolved to fpend. 



The devil applauds, remarking among other 
things that — 



The New England Primer 85 

If thou my counfel wilt embrace, 
And fhun the ways of truth and grace, 
And learn to lie, and curfe and fwear, 
And be as proud as any are ; 
And with thy brothers wilt fall out, 
And fister with vile language flout ; 
Yea, fight and fcratch, and alfo bite, 
Then in thee I will take delight. 

Christ pleads with Youth to leave his folly, until 
at length Youth wavers ; but he cannot make up 
his mind to yield. He is promising to reform at 
some time in the future, when to his surprise and 
dismay Death appears and says : — 

Youth, I am come to fetch thy breath, 
And carry thee to th' fhades of death, 
No pity on thee can I f how 
Thou haft thy God offended fo. 
Thy foul and body I'll divide, 
Thy body in the grave I'll hide, 
And thy dear foul in hell muft lie 
With Devils to eternity. 



In minor matters the primers varied greatly, but 
you could usually depend on finding the Apostle's 
Creed, Dr. Watts's Cradle Hymn, and several prayers, 
including the Lord's Prayer and Now I lay me down 
to sleep ; and there was a page of " Inftructive Quef- 
tions and Anfwers" beginning with " Who was the 
firft man? — Adam" and continuing in the same 
tenor with such items as — 



86 



Old-time Schools and School-books 




The Butterfly In gawdy Drefs, 

The worthWs' Ocxcomb doih exprcfs. 

The C liOCODIL EV 




The Crmdih with wat'ty £y«, 
O'er Man and evtry" Cresttsi* c»iw« 



The Butterfly and Crocodile. 
From an edition of about 1 785. 

Who was the oldeft Man ? Methufelah. 

Who was the patienteft Man ? Job. 

Who was the meekeft Man ? Moles. 

Who was the hard heartedeft Man ? Pharaoh. 

Who made iron fwim ? Eli/ha. 

Who was in the Whale's Belly ? Jonah. 



The New England Primer 



87 



A primer published by E. Draper about 1785 
has five pages of natural history, consisting of two 
pictures to the page with a couplet below each 
like : — 

The Afs, tho' mean, will by his Bray, 

Oblige your Horfe to run away. 



The ' N IGHT I. NCJA'LE. 




IV Niehv'ngaU doth -fc»«Uy ™i» . 
To we&nA J^f!±* fe , 
The CU CROW. 




Tfae"C«rbur tells a merry 1 
Udor Ibe HUf, and fcfc tbc W 



^- ■'•=.-- :.'^-.-V,.. -> 



The Nightingale and Cuckow. 

From an edition of about 1 785. 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



The COCK. 




THE Cock doth crow to let you know, 
If you be wife, what Time to rife. 
There is no Bird treated with fo much Cru- 
el-ty as the Cock ; for he, poor Thing (with-otit; 
the lead Of-fence) is ti-ed to a Stake, and thrown 
at by a fct of i-dle, wick-ed, bar-ba-rous Fel- 
lows, until he is beat in Pie-ces. This is a Cuf- 
tojn t!ie very Hea-thens would blufh at ; and 
there-fore I hope you, who are a Chrift-ian, will 
ncv-er be guitt-y of any Thing fo in-hu-man. 

One of Several Similar Pages of Illustrated Rhymes and Comments in 
The Royal Primer, Worcester, Mass., 1787. 

In an edition of 1 77 1 we find what at first sight 
promises to be an entertaining story, but it proves 
only a description of one of the priggish little good 
boys that abound in the juvenile literature of the 
period. 



THE HISTORY OF MASTER TOMMY 
FIDO. 

AS Goodnefs and Learning make the Child a Man, fo 
Piety makes him an Angel. Mafter Tommy Fido 
not only loved his Book becaufe it made him wifer, but be- 
caufe it made him better too. He loved every Body, and 



The New England Primer 89 

could not fee a Stranger hurt, without feeling what he fuf- 
fered, without pitying him, and wifhing he could help him. 
He loved his Papa and Mamma, his Brothers and Sifters 
with the deareft Affection; he learnt his Duty to God, 
thanked him for his Goodnefs, and was glad that he had 
not made him a Horfe or a Cow, but had given him Senfe 
enough to know his Duty, and every Day when he faid his 
Prayers, thanked God for making him a little Man. One 
Day he went to Church, he minded what the Parfon faid, 
and when he came home afked his Papa, if God loved him ; 
his Papa faid Yes, my Dear. O ! my dear Papa, faid he, 
I am glad to hear it ; what a charming Thing it is to have 
God my Friend ! then nothing can hurt me ; I am fure I 
will love him as well as ever I can. Thus he every day 
grew wifer and better. Every Body was pleafed with him, 
he had many Friends, the Poor bleffed him, and every one 
Strove to make him happy. 

A Philadelphia edition of 1797 " much improved" 
indulged in some similar fiction that took the form 
of eighteen little reading lessons, one of which was 
the following : — 

Har-ry ! fays Bil-ly, what do you think the world ftands 
on ? I don't know, fays Har-ry ; but I can tell you what 
our Tom fays : Old Tom fays the world ftands on a great 
tur-tle ; but he could not tell me what the tur-tle ftood on. 
Well, fays Bil-ly, I will tell you what my pa-pa fays ; My 
pa-pa fays the world don't ftand on a-ny thing; but is 
ba-lanc-ed on its own cen-tre, and goes round the fun, 
in the o-pen fpace, once e-ve-ry year. 

Another story is this from The Royal Primer, 
Worcester, Massachusetts, 1787: — 



9° 



Old-time Schools and School-books 




The Rewards of Virtue. 



The Rewards of Virtue. 

Mifs Goodchild had the advantage of fuch Inftructions in 

her youth that The could reaibn juftly on the Being, Provi- 
dence and Perfections of 
God ; whom fhe admired, 
loved, and reverenced, from 
a Conviction of his infinite 
Excellence ; and to whom 
every Morning and Night, 
fhe offered up her Prayers 
for Protection, and for Ad- 
vancement in ufeful Knowl- 
edge, and good Difpofitions, 
the chief object of her Pur- 

fuit ! Her Papa and Mamma foon died ; and fhe had no 

other Portion left her but her undiffembled Piety, a decent 

Modesty, which fhowed itfelf in her Actions, an innocent 

Simplicity and a Heart full 

of Goodnefs. Thefe railed 

her Friends; they admired 

her, thev loved her, they 

ftrove to make her happy. 

A Gentleman of Under- 

ftanding and Virtue became 

fenfible of her Merit, and 

married her. It was the 

Bufinefs of their Lives to 

make each other happy, 

and as their Fortune was 

large fhe was enabled to 

gratify the generous Difpofitions of her Heart, in relieving 

any diftreft honeft Man ; and in promoting the fubftantial 

Benefit of all about her. 




Illustration to "The Hufbandman's 
Prayer " in a New England Primer 
of about 1785. 



The New England Primer 



9 1 



Here are a few morsels showing the kind of 
material that was used in the primers to fill space 
between the more important portions : — 



Good children rnuft 



Fear God all day, 
Parents obey, 
No falfe thing fay, 
By no fin ftray, 



In doing good. 



Love Chrift alway, 
In fecret pray, 
Mind little play, 
Make no delay 




FAITH. 

THE Father of the Faithful faid, 
At God's firft calling, ",Here am I ;" 
Let us by his example fway'd, 
Like him fubmit, like him reply. 

Then let us imitate the Seer, 

And tender with compliant grace 

Ourfelves, our fouls, and children here, 
Hereafter in a better place. 

Poem from a Charlestown, Mass., Edition of 1802. 



q2 Old-time Schools and School-books 

He that loves God, his school, and his book, will no 
doubt do well at last; but he that hates his school and 
book, will live and die a slave, a fool, and a dunce. 



03» Children, obey your parents m 
ihe Lord : for this is right. Honour 
thy father and mother, (which is the 
6rst commandment with promise,) 
that it may be well with thee, and 
thou mayest live long on the earth. 




The Sum of ihe Ten Commandments. 
\X/ITH all thy foul love God above, 
V * And as thyfelf'ihy neighbour love. 

Our Saviour's Golden Rule. 

BE you to others kind and true, 
As you d have otheis be 10 you. 
And neither do nor lay to men, 
VVhatfi'er you wovld net take again. 

A Page from an Edition of about 1810. 



Ancient Proverb. 



Young folks think old folks to be fools ; 
but old folks know young ones to be so. 



The New England Primer 



93 



Human Frailty. 

OUR days begin with trouble here, 
Our life is but a fpan ; 
And cruel death is always near, 
So frail a thing is man ! 

Believe in Jefus Chrift while young 
Then when thou com'ft to die, 

Thou fhalt fing forth that pleafant fong, 
" Death, where is thy victory ? " 





Acts 13:11. John 4:5— 7. 

Two Pictures. 
From Emerson's The Evangelical Primer. 1810. 



A modification of The New England Primer that 
continued to enjoy a wide circulation for many years 
was Emerson's The Evangelical Primer. It was a 
little larger and thicker than The New England 
Primer and contained considerable more matter but 
less variety. Among those who vouched for its 
value and recommended its use in families and 
schools were Noah Webster, Jedidiah Morse, and 
the president of Yale College. The contents were 



94 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



a "minor doctrinal catechism, a minor historical 
catechism," — which however only covered Bible 
history, — and The Westminster Assembly s Shorter 
Catechism with explanatory notes and Scripture 
proofs and a few hymns. Like all books of its kind 
it did not fail to set forth the terrors of hell with 
definiteness and detail, and the closing paragraphs 
of the doctrinal catechism were these : — 

What will be your condition in hell ? I shall be dread- 
fully tormented. — What company will be there ? Legions 
of devils, and multitudes of sinners of the human race. 

Will company afford me any comfort in hell ? It will 
not, but will probably increase my woes. 

If you should go to hell, how long must you continue 
there ? For ever and ever. 

If you should die in your sins, and God should make 
you miserable, should you have any reason to complain of 
him? Not the least. I must be speechless. 




Amidst, our cheer 
DEATH may be near; 



From a Picture Alphabet in Fisher's 
A Youth's Primer, 1817. 



A similar book 
was The Youth's 
Primer " by Jona- 
than Fisher, A.M., 
Minister of the 
Gospel at Bluehill, 
Maine, 1817." It 
contained " a series 
of short verses in 
alphabetical order, 
each followed by 
religious, moral, or 
historical observa- 



The New England Primer 



95 



tions," and it contained the catechism. The verses 
and accompanying illustrations were reminiscent of 
the picture alphabet in The New England Primer and 
occasionally treated the same subject. Thus, the 
first jingle was — 



By Adam came 
Our sin and shame. 



Our Parents fell 
And we rebel. 



For the letter T there was this 



Take ye my Yoke 
So Jesus spoke 



and the picture 
shows Christ 
carrying an ox 
yoke in his hand 
while two oxen 
stand in the field 
in the back- 
ground. 

The " obser- 
vations " that 
went with the 
verses were often 
very lugubrious, 
as the extract be- 
low will indicate. 



Borne with delight 
'Tis easy quite, 




The EARTH must burn 
And Christ return; 



What then will hide 
The sons of pride? 



From a Picture Alphabet in Fisher's A Youth's 
Primer. 



There is a very pretty little hymn, and a true one, 
which parents often teach their children, and that very 
fitly : I will here insert it : — 



9 6 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



I in the burying place may see 

Graves snorter there than I ; 
From death's arrest no age is free, 

Young children too may die. 
My God, may such an awful sight 

Awakening be to me ! 
Oh ! that by early grace I might 

For death prepared be. 

Young people may very soon learn that they are dying 

creatures. This dy- 
ing is the parting of 
the soul from the 
body, so that the 
body is left without 
thought, or motion ; 
being thus left, it soon 
putrefies and becomes 
loathsome, so that it 
is necessary to bury 
it under ground, out 
of our sight, where 
it moulders away to 
dust. This is the 
consequence of sin, 
by reason of which 
God said to Adam, 

Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return. If man had 

not sinned, he would have lived for ever. 

The backbone of The New England Primer was 
The Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, which 
Cotton Mather called a "little watering pot to shed 
good lessons." He urged writing masters to set 
sentences from it to be copied by their pupils, and 




KINDNESS appears, 
Dissolv'd in tears 



Ami from her stove 
Relieves the poor. 



From a Picture Alphabet in Fisher's A Youth's 
Primer. 



The New England Primer 97 

he advised mothers to " continually drop something 
of the Catechism on their children, as Honey from 
the Rock." 

This Catechism was the work of the great West- 
minster Assembly called together by parliament in 
1643 — an Assembly composed of one hundred and 
twenty-one clergymen, thirty of the laity, and five 
special commissioners from Scotland. It held 11 63 
sessions and lasted six years. The 107 questions 
and answers printed in the primer were entitled 
The Shorter Catechism, but the children who were 
expected to memorize all the ponderous answers 
could discern no sign of condensation or abbreviation, 
and they sometimes wondered what a longer one 
could be like. They were drilled in the Catechism 
constantly, both in the church and at school. Min- 
isters preached about it, and it was much in every 
one's mind. Its importance in the thought of the 
time is suggested by the fact that the largest book 
printed in New England previous to the nineteenth 
century was Samuel Willard's Complete Body of Di- 
vinity in Two Hundred and Fifty Expository Lectures 
on the Assembly s Shorter Catechism ; and this enor- 
mous volume of nearly a thousand pages had marked 
popularity. 

Many primers contained a second catechism — 
Spiritual Milk for American Babes, it was called — 
which in general was of the same type as the 
Westminster Assembly's, only it had not much more 
than half as many questions and the answers were 
shorter. 

Public interest in the primer was kept up in 



98 Old-time Schools and School-books 

country communities by the custom of "Saying the 
Catechism " yearly in church. Three summer Sun- 
days were set apart for the purpose, and a portion 
was recited each Sunday at the close of the afternoon 
service. It was a momentous occasion, and when 
the parson announced from the pulpit that, " Sab- 
bath after next, the first division of the Catechism 
will be recited here," a thrill of excitement ran 
through the congregation. In this recitation all the 
children between eight and fifteen years took part. 
There were fortnight intervals between the three 
Sundays to allow the children to perfect their mem- 
ory of the next lot of questions. They must know 
every answer, and old primers were looked up, new 
ones bought, and the young folk got to work in 
earnest. 

When the first of the great days came, and the 
other exercises of the day were concluded, the chil- 
dren, arrayed in their " Sabba'day clothes," gathered 
in two long lines in the broad aisle, the boys on one 
side, the girls on the other. The lines began near 
the deacon's seat under the brow of the pulpit, and 
very likely extended the full length of the broad 
aisle and around into the aisles at the rear. Parents 
and relatives crowded the pews and galleries, all 
watching the scene with solemn interest — an in- 
terest that was tinged on the part of the mothers 
with anxiety lest their children should not acquit 
themselves with credit. 

The minister, standing in the pulpit, gave out the 
questions. Each child, in order, stepped forth into 
mid-aisle, faced the pulpit, made his manners, an- 



The New England Primer 99 

swered the questions put to him, and stepped back. 
To be " told " — that is, to be prompted or cor- 
rected by the minister — was a dire disgrace, and 
brought one's ability and scholarship into ill repute. 
Many were the knees that smote together, and many 
were the beating hearts and shaky voices among the 
little people in those two conspicuous lines. 

When the second division of the Catechism was 
recited, the smaller children had dropped out, and, 
on the third Sunday, reserved for the long and 
knotty answers in the last portion of the Catechism, 
only a meagre squad of the oldest children lined up 
in front of the pulpit. 

The Catechism was treated scarcely less seriously 
in the schools than it was in the churches, and the 
teachers drilled their pupils in it as thoroughly as 
they did in spelling or any other lesson. With the 
primer so constantly used in church, school, and 
home, the people could not help but be saturated 
with its doctrines, and no book save the Bible did 
more to form New England character. In short, this 
humble little primer was a chief tool for making 
sure that the children, or, as Jonathan Edwards called 
them, " young vipers and infinitely more hateful than 
vipers to God," should grow up into sober and 
Christian men and women. 



L.of C. 



IV 

THE DISTRICT SCHOOLS 

THE years after the Revolution, till about 
1840, form the most picturesque period in 
our educational history. This was preemi- 
nently the period of the district school ; and while I 
refer especially, in what follows, to the experiences 
of Massachusetts, these experiences did not differ 
essentially from those of the states neighboring. At 
first the prevailing poverty and rusticity and loose 
government made it difficult to maintain any school 
organization that was at all adequate. Many com- 
munities had no schoolhouse until the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, but hired a room in some 
dwelling and furnished it with desks and benches. 

In colonial times, either the town in its meetings 
chose the master, fixed his salary, and determined 
the conditions on which pupils were admitted, or 
else this business was turned over to the selectmen. 
Now, however, the control of school affairs in each 
division of the town was delegated to a " prudential 
committeeman " elected by the people of his own 
district. The amount of money to be raised for 
school support was still determined by the town and 
was assessed with the other taxes, but after its distri- 
100 




A Vacation Visit from the Committeeman to consider Repairs. 



The District Schools 101 

bution among the districts there was no responsibil- 
ity to the town for its expenditure. 

Yet it is to be noted that the Massachusetts law 
of 1789 required supervision. This supervising 
was done by a committee that usually included the 
ministers of the gospel and the selectmen in their 
capacity as town officials. They were obliged to 
visit and inspect the schools at least once in six 
months and inquire into the regulation, discipline, 
and proficiency of the scholars. Their visitations 
were very formal and solemn affairs. The whole 
delegation, composed of the community's chief 
priests and elders — sometimes to the number of 
more than twenty — went in stately procession to the 
schools in turn. They heard the classes read in the 
primer, Psalter, Testament, etc., examined the writ- 
ing and ciphering books, and addressed the children 
in short speeches of the customary school-committee 
style. Just before departing, they entered on the 
school records their testimony to the good behavior 
and proficiency of the pupils, and the fidelity of the 
master. " The school may be said to flourish like 
the palm tree " is the way one such visitation closed 
its commendation in the records of old Nicholas 
Pike's school at Newburyport. 

Supervision waned as time went on, until nearly 
all real power in the affairs of each local district was 
vested in the prudential committeeman. This indi- 
vidual received no pay and little honor, and there 
was seldom any rivalry for the position. It went to 
the man who was willing to serve, and had ability 
enough to look after the repairs of the building 



102 Old-time Schools and School-books 

and other material needs of the school. His edu- 
cational qualifications were likely to be meagre, 
and some of the local committeemen were very 
rude and ignorant. The district system resulted 
in many a tea-pot tempest, for every person had 
decided ideas as to how affairs in his or her own 
neighborhood should be managed, and whatever 
action the committeeman took, he had to run a 
gauntlet of criticism that was often far from judicial 
or gentle. To settle the question of where one of 
the little frame schoolhouses should stand has been 
known to require ten district meetings scattered over 
a period of two years ; and the meetings would be 
attended by men from the mountain farms for miles 
around. Some of these men had no children to be 
schooled, and some of them were not interested 
enough in national affairs to vote in a presidential 
election. The one point on which all could agree 
was that the schoolhouse should be built where the 
land was as nearly valueless as possible. Any spot 
was good enough, provided it was in the geographi- 
cal centre of the district. If the schoolhouse was 
not thus centrally located, and the rights, real or 
fancied, of individuals were set aside for the con- 
venience of the majority, then there was trouble that 
might smoulder almost interminably, ready to blaze 
forth at any time. 

Most of the buildings were erected close to the 
highway, and they encroached on the adjoining field 
very little. Usually they formed a part of the line 
fence. A favorite situation was at the meeting of 
two or more roads, and sometimes the building 



The District Schools 



103 



would be so near the wheel tracks that a large stone 
was set up at the most exposed corner to protect 
the structure from being injured by passing vehicles. 





fc jW .- 


■1Mii/i 





An Old-time District Schoolhouse. 



The schoolhouses seldom had enclosures or shade 
trees, and the summer sun and the winter winds had 
free play. 

The number of pupils to be accommodated in a 
district was likely to be large, for the children in the 
old-time families were numerous, and the farm regions 
had not yet begun to be depopulated by the city- 
ward migration destined to drain them later. Never- 
theless, no matter how many the scholars, there was 
never any thought of providing more than a single 
teacher. The main purpose of the constructors of 
the buildings seems to have been to see into how 



104 Old-time Schools and School-books 

small a space the children could be crowded, and 
some schoolrooms not over thirty feet square accom- 
modated a hundred pupils. The structure was gen- 
erally roughly clapboarded, and it might possibly 
receive a coat of red or yellow paint, but more likely 
paint was lacking both outside and in. The school- 



STOVE 







tn 




a! 




UJ 


in 


U 


u 


< 


o 


u 




H 












J 



Plan of a Characteristic Schoolroom of 1840. 

room was lathed and plastered, and was lighted by 
five or six small windows of twelve panes each. 
The glass in the windows was often broken, and 
during school hours, in cool weather, the place of 
the missing panes was apt to be supplied with hats. 
Just inside, next to the entrance, was a fireplace, 
and at this same end of the room was the master's 
desk or table — usually a table in the early days; 



The District Schools 



105 



but later a desk specially contrived by the carpenter, 
on a slight platform, was customary. Besides serv- 




A Teacher's Desk. 



ing the ordinary purposes of a desk, it was a reposi- 
tory for confiscated tops, balls, penknives, marbles, 
jewsharps, etc., and was frequently a perfect curiosity- 
shop. 



106 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Against the walls on the remaining three sides of 
the room was built a continuous sloping shelf, about 
three feet from the floor. Long, backless benches 




One of the Benches for the Older Pupils. 

accompanied it, on which the older scholars sat, 
facing the wall. While they were studying, they 
leaned against the edge of the shelf, and when they 
wrote or ciphered they rested their exercise books 
and slates on it. Under it, on a horizontal shelf 
that was somewhat narrower than the upper one, the 
pupils kept their books and other school belongings 
when not in use. A line of lower benches for the 




One of the Benches for the Smaller Pupils. 

smaller children was set within the three-sided square 
formed by those of the big scholars. The number 
of children the schoolhouse would hold depended on 
how closely they could be packed on the benches. 
In the middle of the room was a limited open space. 
Here the classes stood while reciting, at which time 



The District Schools 107 

they were expected to faithfully " toe the crack " — 
a particular crack between the floor boards chosen 
for the purpose of keeping them in line. 

The schoolroom walls were dismally vacant except 
for weather-stains, and grime from the fire which 
had an annoying tendency to smoke. There were 
no maps or pictures, and even blackboards were not 
common until about 1820. The earliest reference 
I have seen to a school blackboard is in the preface 
to an arithmetic published in 1809, in Philadelphia. 
Evidently the use of such a thing as a school aid 
was an innovation. A footnote explained that "the 
Black Board should be about 3 feet square, painted 
or stained with ink, and hung against the wall in a 
convenient place for a class to assemble around it." 

Seats and desks were of pine or oak, rudely fash- 
ioned by some local carpenter. Their aspect was not 
improved by the passing years ; for the unpainted 
wood became more and more browned with the 
umber of human contact, and every possessor of a 
jack-knife labored over them with much idle hacking 
and carving. 

Ordinarily there was a narrow entry running across 
the .front of the building that was mostly filled by 
a big chimney. The boys were supposed to hang 
their hats in the entry, but the diminutive space and 
few nails in the wall did not accommodate all the 
extra apparel, and much of it would lie on the floor 
to be trampled on. The fireplace which warmed 
the schoolroom was large and deep, and in severe 
weather it consumed not far from a cord of wood a 
week. The wood was always burned green. No 



108 Old-time Schools and School-books 

one thought of getting the school wood ready long 
enough beforehand to allow it to season. Most of 
what was used was standing in the forests at the 
time the winter term began. When it was presently- 
delivered in the schoolyard, it lay there exposed, and 
it was often wet by rain and buried in snow. In 
summer the place of the woodpile was marked by 
scattered chips and refuse. 

The children usually played around outside for a 
while before school began in the morning, but at 
length a sudden outcry would arise, " There he is 
— the master's coming!" and they would all start 
pell-mell for the schoolroom and clatter noisily into 
their seats, girls on one side of the room, boys on 
the other. In below-zero weather, however, there 
was no lingering in the open air, and if the lad who 
made the fire was not prompt, the little children stood 
about the room crying with cold, while the big boys 
blew the flickering flames and coaxed them into a 
brisk blaze. Later in the morning the fire gradu- 
ally waxed hotter and hotter until the heat was a 
real trial to those nearest the fireplace. But at the 
rear of the room the atmosphere might still be 
frigid, and the back-seat scholars would be asking, 
" Master, may I go to the fire ? " at the same time 
those in front were complaining, " Master, I am too 
hot." 

In a winter school of forty pupils there might be 
a dozen young men and women who were practi- 
cally grown up. On the other hand, quite a group 
of the youngest could not read, and several had not 
mastered the alphabet. The little scholars were 



The District Schools 



109 




most of the 
time " busy " 
keeping still. 
The backless 
benches they 
occupied were 
commonly far 
too high for 
them, leaving 
their feet dang- 
ling in mid air. 
Of course they 
would get to 
knocking the 
shins of one 
another, a whif- - 
fet of laughter 
would escape, 

and the noise An Illustration from Jenkins's Art of Writing, 1 8 13. 

would increase 

until it attracted the attention of the master. Then 
down would come the pedagogue's ferule on his desk 
with a clap that sent shivers through the little learn- 
ers' hearts to think how it would have felt had it 
fallen somewhere else. "Silence!" commanded the 
master, and he gave them a look that swept them 
into utter stillness. 

The usual routine of a school day began with 
reading from the Testament by the " first class." 
Next came writing and its accompanying prepa- 
ration of pens and copies, and possibly thawing 
and watering of ink. Huntington's American 




no 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



Penman, 1824, gives these directions for writing 
pupils : — 

The ink should be the best British ink-powder. The 
paper should be of the first quality, folded in a quarto form, 




Slate, Inkstand, Writing-sand, and Ink-powder. 

and stitched across the narrowest side, that the lines may be 
ruled the longest way of the paper. Where blank writing 
books, ready ruled, can be procured, they would be prefer- 
able, and of less trouble than to rule by hand. 



The District Schools 1 1 1 

For each writer the master set a copy at the top 
of a page in the pupil's copy-book This copy in the 
case of a beginner would be simply straight lines ; 
but a little practice on these sufficed, and then the 
master changed the copy to " hooks and trammels " 
— that is, to curved lines which received their name 
from their resemblance to the kitchen fireplace 
implements on which pots and kettles were hung 
from the crane. For the more advanced pupils the 




Quill Pens. 



master wrote, in a large round hand, " Procrastination 
is the thief of time," " Contentment is a virtue," or 
some other wise saw. Every writer was expected 
to fill out a page daily in imitation of the master's 
copy. Occasionally a master had narrow slips of 
engraved copy that he could distribute among the 
writers. The first series of these copy slips put 
forth in this country was prepared and published by 



U2 Old-time Schools and School-books 

the celebrated Boston schoolmaster, Caleb Bingham, 
in 1796. 

If the end of the term was near, the writing schol- 
ars, instead of using their copy-books, made exhi- 
bition pieces to pass around among the visitors on 
the last day. Ordinarily they did the work on a 
sheet six by eight, or eight by ten inches in size; 
but some of the more ambitious used paper four 
or five times larger. The sheet would contain a 
sentence, or several sentences, or, it may be, a short 
essay on such subjects as Happiness, How to Get 
Riches, Spring, Resignation, Friendship ; and there 



* s _ \ t 

y t ^< //</////■/// fad .' /r ;/>,//<■// //v///r///Y(W(//(j\) 
k •/<<///('/• j /<a nf ■ ///, >//<j/// in //// ( n// Mit'///,i /'/,u . \ 

, . 1 >/<//ah;/t TAi //(>// f/a , A///D //,>/(< /(> ( ,// ( >,-/. 1 



i \ - : ' — 

\ Jonathan ^Xxxfyx ( sJKc s ii? is. 



Exhibition Piece of a Writing Student. 
Size of original, 6x8. 



The District Schools 



ij 



was a decorative border and flourishes, and often 
colored drawings of birds, flowers, pens, houses, 
ships, or other objects. 




WASHINGTON 




Another Exhibition Piece. 
Size of original, 8 x 10. 

After writing, the second and third classes read 
from the Testament, and the smallest children were 
called out to repeat a few easy sentences from their 
primers or spelling-books. 

About half-past ten the teacher said, "You may 
go out." The recess was short, but the scholars 



H4 Old-time Schools and School-books 




Schoolroom Corner. 



made the most of it till the instructor appeared at 
the door and rapped sharply with his ferule on the 
door-post as a signal for them to come in. Just 
inside the schoolroom near the door was a pail of 
water and a cup, and the children helped themselves 
as they entered. Some drank large quantities — in 
part to quench their thirst and in part to make an 
exhibition of their capacity. Work was resumed, 
and the rest of the session was spent chiefly in a 
general "spell," the teacher giving out the words 
from a spelling-book and the pupils spelling them 
at the top of their voices. 

The afternoon began with reading by the first 
class from a reading-book, and then the other classes 



The District Schools 



"5 



recited in turn until recess. The final hour was 
devoted to spelling once more with some minor 
instruction in abbreviations, currencies, weights, 
measures, etc. Then there was a roll-call, and the 
boy whose turn it was to make the fire next morn- 
ing was reminded of the fact. As the scholars pre- 
pared to leave, the mas- 
ter gave positive orders 
for them to "go straight 
home and be civil to 
everybody they might 
meet." 

An interesting de- 
scription of a school 
about the beginning of 
the last century is found 
in the autobiography 
of Samuel G. Goodrich, 
or "Peter Parley," as 
he preferred to call 
himself on the title- 
pages of his numerous 
books. He was born 
in 1793 in the little 
farming town of Ridge- 
field, Connecticut, and the school he attended was 
typical of those in all the older Northern states ; for 
the city population of the nation in 1800 was only 
three per cent of the whole. Hence, nearly all the 
young people received their educational training in the 
rura\, schools. Parley says that the immediate sur- 
roundings of the schoolhouse to which he went were 




Peter Parley. 



1 1 6 Old-time Schools and School-books 

., . . bleak and desolate. Loose, squat stone walls, with 
innumerable breaches, inclosed the adjacent fields. A few 
tufts of elder, with here and there a patch of briers and 
pokeweed, flourished in the gravelly soil. Not a tree, how- 
ever, remained, save an aged chestnut. This, certainly, had 
not been spared for shade or ornament, but probably because 
it would have cost too much labor to cut it down ; for it 
was of ample girth. 

The schoolhouse chimney was of stone, and the fire- 
place was six feet wide and four deep. The flue was so 
ample and so perpendicular that the rain, sleet, and snow 
fell directly to the hearth. In winter the battle for life with 
green fizzling fuel, which was brought in lengths and cut 
up by the scholars, was a stern one. Not unfrequently the 




School in Connecticut. 
From The Malte-Brun School Geography, 1831. 

wood, gushing with sap as it was, chanced to let the fire go 
out, and as there was no living without fire, the school was 
dismissed, whereat all the scholars rejoiced. 

I was about six years old when I first went to school. 
My teacher was " Aunt Delight," a maiden lady of fifty, 
short and bent, of sallow complexion and solemn aspect. 



The District Schools 117 

We were all seated upon benches made of slabs — boards 
having the exterior or rounded part of the log on one side. 
As they were useless for other purposes, they were converted 
into school benches, the rounded part down. They had 
each four supports, consisting of straddling wooden legs set 
into auger holes. 

The children were called up one by one to Aunt Delight, 
who sat on a low chair, and required each, as a preliminary, 
" to make his manners," which consisted of a small, sudden 
nod. She then placed the spelling-book before the pupil, 
and with a pen-knife pointed, one by one, to the letters of 
the alphabet, saying " What's that ? " 

I believe I achieved the alphabet that summer. Two 
years later I went to the winter school at the same place 
kept by Lewis Olmstead — a man who made a business of 
ploughing, mowing, carting manure, etc., in the summer, 
and of teaching school in the winter. He was a celebrity 
in ciphering, and Squire Seymour declared that he was the 
greatest " arithmeticker " in Fairfield County. There was 
not a grammar, a geography, or a history of any kind in 
the school. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were the only 
things taught, and these very indifferently — not wholly from 
the stupidity of the teacher, but because he had forty schol- 
ars, and the custom of the age required no more than he 
performed. 

The voters decided in town-meeting how much 
money should be expended for school purposes and 
how it should be distributed. Some towns appor- 
tioned it to the districts according to the number 
of families they contained ; others according to the 
number of children of school age; or the money re- 
ceived in taxes was returned. The last two methods 
were very unfavorable to the poorer and more 



1 1 8 Old-time Schools and School-books 

thinly populated districts, and most towns distrib- 
uted a part of the money in equal sums among the 
districts, and the rest according to valuation or 
number of school children. That there were great 
inequalities is shown by the fact that as late as 1844 
several Massachusetts districts were reported to re- 
ceive less than ten dollars with which to provide 
schooling. Each district aimed to get the most for its 
money, and quality was apt to be sacrificed for quantity. 
The cheaper the teacher, the more weeks of school. 

In the larger towns school kept almost continu- 
ously, but as a rule the towns were content with 
a master's winter school of ten or twelve weeks 
attended by the older children, and a summer term 
of equal length taught by a woman, chiefly for the 
benefit of the little ones. The poorer communities 
had to get along with a single term of two or three 
months, or possibly of only a few weeks. 

The winter term invariably began the Monday 
succeeding Thanksgiving Day, and preparations 
were made for it by giving the schoolroom a 
thorough cleaning, and getting fuel ready. The 
cleaning was done by the local women with the 
help of the older boys and girls. None of 
the scanty school money was spent for janitor's 
work. The big boys took turns during the 
term in opening and heating the schoolhouse, 
and the larger girls alternated in sweeping out. 
Attendance was irregular, there was much tardiness, 
and many scholars did not come for some time after 
the term began because they had to wait until shoes 
or other articles of clothing were ready. 




The School Dame. 



The District Schools 119 

A considerable proportion of the masters of the 
winter schools were men whose pedagogic earnings 
helped them to work their way through the academy 
and the college. Others, during the larger part of 
the year, were engaged in farming or labored in the 
village shops, and took up the task of teaching each 
recurring winter, reckoning on the wages as a regular 
part of their annual income. They bargained for a 
term at a time, and change of place was common, so 
that they were likely to teach in nearly all the towns 
neighboring their homes. Some of them with a 
more pronounced roving disposition wandered far 
and wide. One of these wanderers was Ichabod 
Crane who reigned in Sleepy Hollow a few years 
subsequent to the Revolution. He was a native 
of Connecticut. 

His schoolhouse was a low building of one large room, 
rudely constructed of logs. It was most ingeniously secured 
at vacant hours by a withe twisted in the handle of the door, 
and stakes set up against the window-shutters. The school- 
house stood just at the foot of a woody hill, with a brook 
running close by. From hence the low murmur of his 
pupils' voices conning over their lessons might be heard in 
a drowsy summer's day, like the hum of a bee-hive ; inter- 
rupted now and then by the authoritative voice of the mas- 
ter, in the tone of menace or command ; or, peradventure, 
by the appalling sound of the birch, as he urged some tardy 
loiterer along the path of knowledge. 

When school hours were over he had various ways of 
rendering himself both useful and agreeable. He assisted 
the farmers occasionally in the lighter labors of their farms. 
He laid aside, too, all the dominant dignity with which he 
lorded it in his little empire, the school, and found favor in 



120 Old-time Schools and School-books 

the eyes of the mothers, by petting the children, particu- 
larly the youngest ; and he would sit with a child on one 
knee, and rock a cradle with his foot for whole hours 
together. 

In addition to his other vocations, he was the singing 
master of the neighborhood, and picked up many bright 




Ichabod Crane at his Boarding-place. 



shillings by instructing the younger folks in psalmody. It 
was a matter of no little vanity to him, on Sundays, to take 
his station in front of the church gallery, with a band of 
chosen singers ; where, in his own mind, he completely car- 
ried away the palm from the parson. Thus, by divers little 
makeshifts, the worthy pedagogue got on tolerably enough, 
and was thought, by all who understood nothing of the labor 
of headwork, to have a wonderfully easy life of it. 



The District Schools 121 

Generally the teacher was young, sometimes not 
more than sixteen years old ; but if he was expert at 
figures, if he could read the Bible without stumbling 
over the long words, if he could write well enough 
to set a decent copy, if he could mend a pen, if he 
had vigor enough of character to assert his authority, 
and strength enough of arm to maintain it, he would 
do. 

Pluck was indeed of superlative importance, for 
according to the old-time educational ideal, the 
lesson of all others to be impressed on the scholars 
was obedience, and there were pretty certain to be 
big boys among the pupils, whose love of knowledge 
was far exceeded by their love of mischief and spirit 
of insubordination. A muscular clash with them was 
all but inevitable, and the master who lacked cour- 
age or athletic vigor was likely to meet with igno- 
minious disaster. When the boys had "put out" 
two or three masters in succession, the school got 
the name of being " hard," and the prudential com- 
mitteeman was obliged to offer liberal wages and 
seek out a teacher who could overpower the young 
savages. That this warfare between the teachers 
and taught was common is shown by a record of 
over three hundred Massachusetts schools broken 
up in the year 1837 by the mutinous pupils or by 
the incompetence of the teachers. 

Severity was held to be a virtue in a teacher rather 
than the contrary. Some parents were uneasy if 
the master was backward in applying the rod, and 
inferred that the children could not be learning 
much. The means the average schoolmaster em- 



122 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



ployed to tame and discipline his pupils were ex- 
tremely primitive. He depended chiefly on a ruler, 







-.:■■• 



>&>■ 



/r2$t?/^. 



A Salem Reward of Merit. 

or on what was called "the heavy gad," by which 
expression was designated five feet of elastic sapling. 
These two implements were applied with force and 
frequency. An appropriate share of the chastise- 
ment was visited on the girls, and the older ones 
were not allowed to escape justice any more than 
the younger ones ; for it was thought that a youth 
of either sex who was not too old to do wrong was 
not too old to be punished. 

We get a suggestive impression of what the 
discipline could be from the fact that a Sunderland, 
Massachusetts, schoolhouse erected in 1793 con- 



The District Schools 12.3 

tained a whipping-post set firmly in the schoolroom 
floor. To this post offenders were tied and whipped 
in the presence of their mates. It is also related 
that the schoolroom walls, as time went on, became 
marred with dents made by ferules hurled at mis- 
behaving pupils' heads with an aim that sometimes 
proved untrue. 

Occasionally a teacher did not punish at all by 
main strength, but resorted to moral suasion. Horace 
Greeley tells of attending a New Hampshire district 
school of sixty or seventy pupils about 18 15, the 
master of which rarely or never struck a blow. He 
governed instead by appeals to his scholars' nobler 
impulses. When the master left at the close of his 
second term, a general attendance of parents on his 
last afternoon, and a rural feast they provided of 
boiled cider and doughnuts attested the emphatic 
appreciation of his worth. Another master of this 
gentler type held sway in Belchertown, Massachu- 
setts, a little earlier. If his scholars became noisy, 
he would stamp his foot and cry out, " Children, 
if you do not behave better, I will go right off and 
leave you ! " and the children would be frightened 
into orderly quiet. 

To turn again to Horace Greeley's reminiscences, 
a still more curious bit of school lore is his de- 
scription of the custom of barring out. 

At the close of the morning session of the first of Janu- 
ary, and perhaps on some other day that the big boys chose 
to consider or make a holiday, the moment the master left 
the house in quest of his dinner, the little ones were 



124 Old-time Schools and School-books 




Whipping-post formerly in a Sunderland, Mass., Schoolroom. 
Height of original, about five feet. 



The District Schools 125 

started homeward, the doors and windows suddenly and 
securely barricaded, and the older pupils, thus fortified 




William Biglow. 

Who taught for many years in Salem and Boston during the latter part of the eigh- 
teenth century and the early part of the nineteenth. From a portrait in wax. 



against intrusion, proceeded to spend the afternoon in play 
and hilarity. I have known a master to make a desperate 
struggle for admission, but the odds were too great. If he 



\z6 Old-time Schools and School-books 

appealed to the neighboring fathers, they were apt to advise 
him to desist, and let matters take their course. I recollect 
one instance, however, where a youth was shut out who, 
procuring a piece of board, mounted from a fence to the 
roof of the schoolhouse and covered the top of the chimney 
nicely with his board. Ten minutes thereafter, the house 
was filled with smoke, and its inmates, opening the doors 
and windows, were glad to make terms with the outsider. 



The usual sum paid to a master was ten or twelve 
dollars a month, though a wealthy district might, in 
exceptional cases, give twenty dollars to retain a 
man of culture and experience. Women earned 
from four to ten dollars. Even after the middle 
of the nineteenth century the standard pay for a 
woman teacher in many districts was one dollar a 
week. Instances of still lower wages can be found 
a few decades earlier. Thus a " qualified woman 
teacher" in a Connecticut town in 1798 received a 
weekly stipend of sixty-seven cents, and some mas- 
ters of that period were paid no more. Besides the 
money remuneration, the districts boarded the teach- 
ers. Otherwise, the salary would have loomed much 
larger, and the town appropriation would have quickly 
melted awav. The teacher " boarded round " among 
the homes of the pupils, spending at each house a 
length of time proportioned to the number of school 
children in the family. The custom was common 
until after 1850. The following paragraphs from 
what purports to be a schoolmaster's diary written 
early in the last century give a very spirited account 
of a week's experience of — 



The District Schools 127 

Boarding Round in Vermont. 

Monday. Went to board at Mr. B's; had a baked gander 
for dinner; suppose from its size, the thickness of the skin 
and other venerable appearances it must have been one of 
the first settlers of Vermont ; made a slight impression on 
the patriarch's breast. Supper — cold gander and potatoes. 
Family consists of the man, good wife, daughter Peggy, four 
boys, Pompey the dog, and a brace of cats. Fire built in 
the square room about nine o'clock, and a pile of wood lay 
by the fireplace ; saw Peggy scratch her fingers, and couldn't 
take the hint ; felt squeamish about the stomach, and talked 
of going to bed ; Peggy looked sullen, and put out the fire 
in the square room ; went to bed, and dreamed of having 
eaten a quantity of stone wall. 

Tuesday. Cold gander for breakfast, swamp tea and nut 
cake — the latter some consolation. Dinner — the legs, 
&c, of the gander, done up warm — one nearly despatched. 
Supper — the other leg, &c, cold; went to bed as Peggy 
was carrying in the fire to the square room ; dreamed I was 
a mud turtle, and got on my back and could not get over 
again. 

Wednesday. Cold gander for breakfast ; complained of 
sickness, and could eat nothing. Dinner — wings, &c, of 
the gander warmed up ; did my best to destroy them, for 
fear they should be left for supper ; did not succeed ; 
dreaded supper all the afternoon. Supper — hot Johnny 
cake ; felt greatly revived ; thought I had got clear of the 
gander, and went to bed for a good night's rest ; disap- 
pointed; very cool night, and couldn't keep warm; got up 
and stopped the broken window with my coat and vest; no 
use ; froze the tip of my nose and one ear before morning. 

Thursday. Cold gander again ; much discouraged to 
see the gander not half gone ; went visiting for dinner 
and supper ; slept abroad and had pleasant dreams. 



128 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Friday. Breakfast abroad. Dinner at Mr. B.'s ; cold 
gander and potatoes — the latter very good; ate them, and 
went to school quite contented. Supper — cold gander 
and no potatoes, bread heavy and dry ; had the headache 
and couldn't eat. Peggy much concerned ; had a fire 
built in the square room, and thought she and I had better 
sit there out of the noise ; went to bed early ; Peggy thought 
too much sleep bad for the headache. 

Saturday. Cold gander and hot Indian Johnny cake ; 
did very well. Dinner — cold gander again; didn't keep 
school this afternoon ; weighed and found I had lost six 
pounds the last week ; grew alarmed ; had a talk with 
Mr. B. and concluded I had boarded out his share. 

In the newer and thinner populated portions of 
the country education was much neglected. Com- 
munities either had a poor school or none at all. 
We get some idea of the difficulty of obtaining an 
education on the frontier from the life of Abraham 
Lincoln. The schools he attended between 1814 
and 1826 in Kentucky and Indiana were held in 
deserted log cabins with earthen floors. The win- 
dows were small holes cut through the logs ; and in 
some of the schoolhouses sheets of paper greased 
with lard served in the window holes instead of glass. 
Lincoln never was able to go to any school regularly 
and had less than a year's schooling in all. He was 
seventeen when he attended his last school. It was 
four and a half miles distant from the home cabin, 
and no doubt the long daily walk back and forth 
seemed a waste of time to most of his relatives. The 
region was still new and but little subdued, with 
many bears and other wild animals in the woods, and 



The District Schools 129 

Lincoln has said of the schoolmasters that " No 
qualification was ever required beyond c readin', 
writin', and cypherin' to the Rule of Three.' If 
a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened 
to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon 
as a wizard." 

Teaching offered no rewards sufficient to attract 
men of education or capacity, and it sometimes 
seemed as if a master's chief reason for taking up 
teaching was inability to earn anything in any other 
way. Lincoln acquired much of his early education 
at home. In the evening he would pile sticks of 
dry wood into the brick fireplace. These would 
blaze up brightly and shed a strong light over the 
room, and the boy would lie down flat on the floor 
before the hearth with his book in front of him. 
He used to write his arithmetic sums on a large 
wooden shovel with a piece of charcoal. After 
covering it all over with examples, he would take his 
jack-knife and whittle and scrape the surface clean, 
ready for more ciphering. Paper was expensive, and 
he could not even afford a slate. Sometimes when 
the shovel was not at hand, he did his figuring on 
the logs of the house walls and on the doorposts, and 
other woodwork that afforded a surface he could 
mark on with his charcoal. 

An interesting sidelight on education in the dis- 
trict schools is furnished by an official report of 
1838 concerning the three thousand school buildings 
of Massachusetts. Their estimated value was little 
above a half million dollars. To-day the state has 
single school structures which have cost more than 



130 Old-time Schools and School-books 

that. The report says " there is no other class of 
buildings within our limits, erected for the permanent 



Sox Desks and Cast-iron Stove. 



or temporary residence of our native population, 
so inconvenient, so uncomfortable, so dangerous to 



The District Schools 



3* 



health by their construction within, or without, aban- 
doned to cheerlessness and dilapidation." In one 
town, for a series of years, all the money annually 
appropriated for repairs on its eight schoolhouses 
was five dollars — an average of sixty-two and a 
half cents each. 

Conditions in the schools of other states were no 
better. Thus the local reports in Connecticut 
between 1840 and 1850 make frequent mention of 




A Schoolboy. 



132 Old-time Schools and School-books 




A Schoolgirl 



the small size of the schoolrooms as compared with 
the number of pupils they had to accommodate. 
Some of the rooms were less than seven feet high ; 
often they had broken windows, clapboards hanging 



■ < ^M^ffr 








1 

1 

« 

i 


i 



The District Schools 133 

loose, props up at the blinds to keep them in place, 
stoves without doors, leaky roofs, patches of plaster- 
ing missing and the rest of the plastering much 
marred and begrimed ; crevices in the floor admitted 
any quantity of cold air, while the woodwork of the 
desks and walls was cut and marked " with all sorts 
of images, some of which would make heathens 
blush." 

The required studies now were reading, spelling, 
writing, arithmetic, geography, and grammar. Alge- 
bra and even Latin and French were attempted in 
an occasional school if the teacher was equal to them. 
Yet with all this broadening in studies and all the 
advances in school-books, and in spite of the correct 
English the books were supposed to impart, the 
scholars in their daily conversation continued to use 
the vernacular. Had they been reproved for so 
doing, they would have felt affronted. 

One handicap to effective teaching was the fact 
that it might happen no two pupils were equally 
advanced in their studies — possibly did not have 
the same text-books. The books were often much 
worn and defaced, for they were family heirlooms 
and continued in use as long as they held together. 
One scholar would bring a volume used by some 
member of the family of the preceding generation ; 
another a book procured many years before for an 
elder brother or sister, and a third would appear with 
a copy just bought. 

Some one has said, " It seems to me that we may 
learn everything when we know the letters of the 
alphabet;" and it is unquestionably true that the 



134 Old-time Schools and School-books 

capable and aspiring youth can make a very slender 
educational foundation serve to give an opportunity 
for great development. In most of the old district 
schools little was imparted beyond a few bare rudi- 
ments, the teachers were often ignorant, and some- 
times brutal, the methods mechanical and dreary. 
Notable men have come from " the little red school- 
houses," but this was because of their own native 
energy and thrifty acquisitiveness, and was not due 
to any superlative virtues of the schools themselves. 




On the Way Home. 



V 

SUMMER SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES 

THE old-time summer schools were nearly 
always kept by women. A man would have 
been considered out of place — would have 
had an unnatural appearance presiding over a school 
at that season. The women teachers were usually 
young, ambitious girls, eager to earn enough to 



A Summer School as pictured in Bolles's Spelling Book, 1831. 

allow them to attend an academy for a term or two. 
Most of them married later; but others lived on 
as schoolmarms, "sometimes sweetening as they 
ripened, sometimes quite the contrary." 

The law ordered that the teachers should have 
good moral character and competence to teach the 
135 



136 Old-time Schools and School-books 




The End of Recess. 



required branches. 
What furnished a 
woman, however, 
the surest passport 
to employment was 
to be related to 
some prudential 
committeeman. 
He was all-power- 
ful in his district, 
and while his 
daughters or sis- 
ters, of course, had 
first chance, if none 
among these closer 
relatives had anxi- 
ety for the place, 
there was oppor- 
tunity for the more 
remotely con- 
nected. The 
partiality of the 
prudential com- 
mitteeman in this 
respect was pro- 
verbial, and no 
little friction re- 
sulted from the 
f a m i 1 y arrange- 
ments he was wont 
to make. Occa- 
sionally the discus- 



Summer Schools and Academies 137 

sion would split a school in two, and a portion of the 
families in the district would secede and set up a 
school of their own in some dwelling or shop ; but as 
a rule nothing was done until the next annual meet- 
ing, when another committeeman might be chosen 
and a new dynasty substituted. 

The employment of women in the public schools 
had become general, and coincident with this recog- 
nition of their value as teachers came the enlarging 
of the educational opportunities of the girls ; but it 
was not until the nineteenth century was well ad- 
vanced that they had anything approaching the same 
advantages as the boys. Books had nearly always 
been considered outside the feminine sphere from 
the most ancient times. When Francoise de Saint- 
onges, in the sixteenth century, wished to establish 
girls' schools in France, she was hooted in the 
streets, and her father called together four doctors 
of law to decide whether she was possessed of a 
devil in planning to teach women. In like manner, 
early in the last century, when Mary Somerville's 
father discovered that she was engaged by herself in 
mathematical and other studies, he said to his wife, 
" Peg, we must put a stop to this, or we shall have 
Mary in a strait-jacket one of these days." 

Instruction in household duties was the essen- 
tial thing, and if a girl had that, she could do very 
well without book-learning ; yet there was a time 
in England about the period of Queen Elizabeth 
when English girls studied Latin and Greek, and 
the wisest masters were glad to teach them. How- 
ever, this state of affairs passed away, and educated 



138 Old-time Schools and School-books 

women came to be regarded with marked disfavor 
by English gentlemen. 

In our own country, also, while the seventeenth- 
century girls to some extent attended the public 
schools, they gradually dropped out. The early 
school laws did not recognize them at all, expressly 
stating that " the word ' children ' is to be interpreted 
to mean ' boys.' " There was no controversy on the 
subject. It simply seems to have been thought 
unnecessary that girls should be instructed in the 
public schools. Nevertheless, either at the dame 
schools or at home, they nearly all learned at least 
to read and sew. Writing was held to be much less 
important, and not by any means an essential accom- 
plishment for females in common life. Scarcely one 
in a dozen women could write in 1700, and of those 
whose names appear in the recorded deeds of the 
early part of the eighteenth century less than forty 
per cent sign their names. All the rest make their 
mark. Even at the time of the Revolution many 
of the patriot wives and mothers could not write. 

As an example of feminine disadvantages it is 
worthy of note that the town of Northampton, now 
one of our most famous educational centres, voted in 
1788 to be at no expense for the schooling of girls, 
and they were not admitted to its public schools 
until 1802. President Quincy of Harvard College, 
in his history of Boston, says that in 1790 Boston 
girls were allowed to attend the public schools in the 
summer months only, and not then unless there were 
seats left vacant by boys. This semi-exclusion lasted 
until 1822, when Boston became a city. The girls 



Summer Schools and Academies 



139 



were then given free access to the common schools, 
and presently another innovation was made, whereby 
a high school was established for them with a three- 
year course, 
though Latin and 
Greek were not 
included in the 
curriculum ; but 
this school was 
such an " alarm- 
ing success" that 
it was abolished 
after eighteen 
months' trial. 
The school au- 
thorities were 
apparently dis- 
mayed at the way 
the girls crowded 
into the new high 
school, and Mr. 
Ouincy says of 
the pupils, " Not 
one voluntarily 
quitted it, and 
there was no rea- 
son to suppose 
that any one 
admitted to the 
school would voluntarily quit for the whole three 
years, except in case of marriage." 

Boston was very conservative in this respect. 




A Little Girl of the Eighteenth Century. 
From a pastel. 



140 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Throughout the country as a whole there began 
to be a considerable change in public sentiment 
regarding feminine education immediately after the 
Revolution, and within a decade or two, most places 
allowed the girls to attend all the town schools. Yet 
the new advantages were accorded only gradually 
and in the face of a good deal of opposition. At 
first some towns were cautious enough to arrange 
that the boys should be sent home earlier in the 
forenoon and afternoon to give the girls a chance 
to come in for the time remaining ; but the girls 
could attend all of Thursday afternoon, for that was 
the boys' holiday. Even these slender schooling 
privileges were cut off in the winter out of con- 
sideration for "the female health." Thus the sum- 
mer district schools in many instances continued to 
be, if not the only educational reliance of the girls, 
at least a very important one. There they were 
taught reading, writing, and spelling, and great atten- 
tion was paid to polite behavior. The scholars 
" made their manners " — that is, the girls dropped a 

REWARD OF MERIT. 

Th.s cerlif.es, that ^^,£^ /^^~^M^O>% 
by diligence and good behaviour, merits the approbation of ;:" 
^^ friends and Instruct ^^ 

A Reward of Merit, about 1820. 

courtesy and the boys bowed, to the teacher when 
they came into the schoolroom and when they left 
it. They made their manners while out at play to 




Summer Schools and Academies 



141 



passing strangers ; and if the minister or some other 
prominent person went by, they formed in line and 



; i¥ to^5 atethe S^s of thi 



*V 



■**•-»<«-■*•.■?. < 1 » . 



S-: 



by -Ae*. amiable manners, diligence, and 

"1 progress in study, is entitled to the in- 

: creased affection of-fr^x friends, and the 



applause of Aja. Instruct -£ 



jf<^< 




A Reward of Merit, 1 822. 



bowed and courtesied all together. At the end of the 
school day the teacher would tell them that as soon 
as they reached home they must remember to make 
their manners to their parents. 

Besides studying their books, the girls did regular 
stints at school of sewing and knitting, and each made 
an elaborate sampler which was expected to be a 
household treasure ever after. The sampler was a 
square or oblong of coarse linen, or possibly silk, 
on which it was customary to stitch the alphabet in 
capitals and small letters, the digits, a verse of senti- 
ment appropriate to a child student, and the worker's 



:42 Old-time Schools and School-books 



name, age, and place of abode. There were also 
decorations — borders, conventional trees, and flower- 
pots, and sometimes abnormal animals and people — 
all resplendent in many-colored silks or worsteds. 
Not only was the sampler intended to be a thing of 



^ieiifGlWCK on & s t v w 



^h^medle\vokof v vhinecAintdi ', &&* 

wberj X was youm*-* le&rmsd w«u * ■ 

itftdfcy w p&raini&I was t&ughk ^ a s 

1 $ot to f pend ray time ir* rjcmgfft ^ 




beauty, but the alphabet portion of it was useful for 
reference to show the proper formation of the letters 
when clothing was to be marked. It was in fact this 
reference feature that made the article a "sampler." 
The smaller samplers were only about seven by 
nine inches, but the larger ones were two or three 



Summer Schools and Academies 



[ 43 



times those dimensions. Some of the verses and in- 
scriptions were very quaint, as is witnessed by the 
two which follow : — 

Next Unto God Dear Parents I Address 
My Self to You in Humble Thankfulness 
For All Your Care And Pains on me Bestow'd 
The Means of Learning Unto Me Allow'd 
Go on I Pray And Let me Still Pursue 
Those Golden Paths the Vulgar Never Knew. 




One of the More Elaborate Samplers. 
Size, fifteen inches square. 



144 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Elizabeth Briggs is my Name And With my 
Hand I Have Wrought the Same in the io ch year 
Of my Age, Salem February 15 th 1805 

How should we scorn these clothes of flesh, 
These fetters and this load, 
And long for evening to undress 
That we may rest with God. 

r «SKi:-.r-w <>V-.V.::V.::-'.-" - SXW 1 ' 

&£ow blest the .OOCaki whom circling years improve 
CTer ^od the object of her warmest love ■ 
Whose useful Kour's successive as they gk«ic — — — 
^he book the t*ee<i\e and the per* <hvvde 



Mantiah 0ar t!ct born Sec.-';:*' »?fl o€ 13 yearz !804 • 







Lower Half of a Sampler. 

Showing a characteristic verse and some intricate and romantic designing. Width of 
original, fifteen inches. 

When the girls began to go to the masters' schools, 
the more aspiring of them adventured a little way 
into geography, grammar, and mathematics. The 
ignorant derided them for so doing and, with regard 



Summer Schools and Academies 145 

to the arithmetic, would ask them if they expected 
to carry pork to market, else why should they want to 
take up such a study. Some of the girls attended 
private schools — " finishing schools," they were 
called — which had been established at the dictate 
of fashion to cultivate ladylike accomplishments. 
All the larger towns had schools of this kind. 
Boston gentlewomen were accustomed from very 
early times to eke out their incomes by taking into 
their homes little girls and misses from the country 
and from the southern colonies and the Barbadoes 
who wanted to attend the finishing schools of the 
city. Salem and Newburyport were also favorite 
towns for acquiring feminine polish. The finishing 
schools taught a smattering of French, the art of 
embroidery and other fancy needlework, consider- 
able dancing, and many elegant manners. Dancing 
seems to have had an especially important place 
among the young misses' attainments, though in 
early colonial days it was inveighed against by both 
magistrates and ministers. Increase Mather loudly 
proclaimed its evils just as he did the evils of wear- 
ing wigs — "Horrid Bushes of Vanity," he called 
those head adornments. But perverse human nature 
adopted both wigs and dancing, and presently " or- 
dination balls " were given when a new minister was 
installed. 

About the beginning of the last century, girls' 
schools of genuinely serious aims and purposes 
came into being, and their high character and the 
success of their pupils, and the like success won 
by the girls in the academies, were very effective in 



146 Old-time Schools and School-books 



breaking down the opposition to feminine educa- 
tion. The higher institutions of learning for girls 
established in those early years shone with added 
lustre because their novelty attracted workers with 
the enthusiasm of pioneers, and with a keenness of 
appreciation and exhilaration that could be elicited 
by no other circumstances. These schools were in 
a marked way religious, their pupils absorbed moral 
earnestness, and they had a deep and lasting influ- 
ence on New England life. They furnished heroines 
of the mission field and some of the most ardent 
workers against intemperance. From them, too, 
came such numbers of wives for the clergy that the 
humorous appellation " ministers' rib factories " was 
not wholly amiss. This nickname was the more 
telling, owing to the fact that the buildings them- 



i« 



'^^mm£ 




"A Minister's Rib Factory." 
Mary Lyon's Mt. Holyoke Seminary, built in 1837. 

selves were apt to be great barren barracks with 
very much of the factory look. 



Summer Schools and Academies 147 

I have incidentally referred to the academies. 
Their waxing and waning form a curious phase of 
our educational development. In the eighteenth 
century the growth of the scattered villages, and 
the division of the towns into school districts, was 
attended by a gradual discontinuance of the gram- 
mar schools. Indeed, the law requiring grammar 
schools was relaxed, until we find in Massachusetts 
only seven towns where they were obligatory in 1 824. 
The people preferred to spend all the money raised 
for education on the district schools ; but some channel 
of more advanced instruction was a necessity, and 
there began to come into being many private schools 
and incorporated academies. The first of the latter 
was established in 1780 at Andover ; others soon 
followed, and by 1840 the state had nearly one hun- 
dred of them. The purpose of the founders was 
primarily to provide a means by which young men 
could be fitted for college. They were imperatively 
needed. For instance, when Leicester Academy 
began its work, there was not in all Worcester 
County an educational institution higher than the 
district schools. The few boys who were deter- 
mined to attend college conned their Latin and 
Greek by their own firesides, and recited to the 
parish ministers. 

The standard studies in the academies were Eng- 
lish, Latin, Greek, and French ; writing, arithmetic, 
and geography ; the art of speaking, logic, geome- 
try, and philosophy. Some of the academies were 
little more than day schools for town pupils ; others 
drew from a wide constituency, not alone in their 



148 Old-time Schools and School-books 



own state, but from other states throughout the 
Union. They did excellent service in broadening 
the scope of education, but they fostered the idea 
of private schools. As a consequence there was a 
marked inclination among the well-to-do to with- 
draw their children from the common schools, which 
were thus left for the poorer families, the indifferent 
and careless, to get from them what little they could. 
A typical academy was that at Deerfield, Massa- 
chusetts, formally opened in 1799. It had 269 pupils 




An Old New England Academy. 

the first year. The building was of brick, sixty 
by eighty feet, two stories high, and surmounted by 
a cupola. Ten years of prosperity encouraged the 
trustees to add another story and a wing, and a bell 
was bought and put in the cupola. Twelve rooms 
were fitted up for boarders, and rented at a weekly 
charge of from seventy-five cents to one dollar and 
a half. The latter sum was the standard price for 
board. It was ordered that " the preceptors and 



Summer Schools and Academies 149 

ushers, besides teaching the arts and sciences, should 
instil into the minds of the pupils moral and Chris- 
tian principles, and form in them habits of virtue 
and the love of piety." The study of natural his- 
tory, natural philosophy, and logic was encouraged, 
and "no person was suffered to attend to painting, 
embroidery, or any other of the ornamental branches 
to the neglect of the essential and fundamental facts 
of education." 

For the regulation of the pupils' conduct there 
was a code of by-laws of thirty-six articles. Among 
other things, these provided that pupils of different 
sexes should not meet on the grounds or within the 
walls of the academy except at meals and prayers, 
nor walk or ride or visit together, under a penalty 
of one dollar. They were fined a dollar if they were 
absent from meeting Sunday, Fast Day, or Thanks- 
giving Day, and the same if they walked in the streets 
and fields or visited Saturday night or Sunday. They 
must forfeit a dollar if detected playing cards, back- 
gammon, or checkers in the building. Ball and 
similar games near the academy were prohibited 
under a penalty of six cents, and a like sum was 
exacted from students found out of their rooms dur- 
ing study hours. The morning prayers were at five 
o'clock, or as soon as it was light enough to read ; 
fine for absence, four cents — for being tardy, two 
cents. The appointed time for beginning to study 
was an hour later. Fines were imposed for damage 
to library books, or books belonging to fellow- 
students, at the rate of six cents for a blot, and six 
cents for each drop of tallow ; while for every leaf 



150 Old-time Schools and School-books 

torn, six cents an inch must be paid, and for every 
mark or scratch two cents. Separate schoolrooms 
were provided for the boys and girls, and separate 
entrances to the building, and the yard was divided 
by a high board fence to keep the sexes apart while 
at play. 

The decay of the academies dates from about the 
middle of the nineteenth century, when Horace 
Mann began to urge the necessity of free high 
schools. These were rapidly established, and as 
they and the academies derived their students from 
the same source, the academies weakened. Most 
of them, after dragging out a lingering existence for 
a longer or a shorter time, finally succumbed. A 
few of the stronger ones adjusted themselves to the 
altered conditions and survived, but their students 
now came chiefly from the homes of the wealthy, 
and they were no longer the resort of the awkward 
rural youths and maids, to whom a short period in 
the academy was often their only opportunity for a 
glimpse of the broader world of culture and books. 



VI 

FLY-LEAF SCRIBBLINGS 

CHILDREN have always been prone to scrib- 
bling, and the pupils in the old district schools 
were no exception to the rule. They did not 
by any means confine their chirography to their copy- 
books. A fair surface of paper, no matter where 
found, was a temptation to some of them, and all 
had moments of mental ennui when the employ- 
ment of the fingers in aimless, or at least unneces- 
sary, whittling and writing was as natural as breathing. 
Instances can be found where there was a genuine 
ferment of literary or artistic inspiration, but mostly 
the children produced only copies of what they had 
seen their schoolmates do. Probably the young 
folks of two or three generations ago scribbled less 
in their school-books than their descendants ; for the 
majority of the old books that have survived the 
wear and tear of use and the casualties of the passing, 
years are comparatively free from markings. Books 
were rarer and far more valued in the early days than 
later, and were treated with more respect, though it 
must be admitted the comparative immaculateness 
of such copies as are now extant is in part due to the 
fact that the books most decorated were the soonest 
to go to pieces, and they no longer exist. But 
151 



152 Old-time Schools and School-books 

search and appeal to elderly people bring to light 
many curious bits of school-child lore. 

The first thing the youthful proprietor of a book 
was likely to do was to mark it with his name. 
Usually he put his signature on the front fly-leaf, 
but he might write it on the final fly-leaf, or almost 
anywhere else in the book. Sometimes he lettered 




BOOK. /// 



A Signature. 
From a Dilworth's Schoolmaster s Assistant- 
it outside on the cover, or even on the edges of the 
leaves. Various common forms of name inscrip- 
tions are given below. They exhibit considerable 
originality in spelling and in punctuation or the lack 
of it, and are transcribed just as they were written. 

William One's 1779 

Elisa Lee,s property 

cost of it 3/ Hartford 10 th Dec 1798 

Allen m Shepherds 
Book and pen the year 
1831 augest 17 



Fly-leaf Scribblings 153 

Jonathan Colton owner 1807 

Ella Morrill is my name 1828 

Mifs Jane Elizabeth Smith her book 

Price 371^ Cnts January 1 st 1833 

Mifs Nottinghams Seminary for Young ladies 

In an old Latin book I find this signature : — 

Andrew Hillyer Ejus Liber 
A D 1 700 and frose to death. 

The Latin students were fond of writing " Ejus 
Liber," but the line which gives the date is the only 
one of the kind I have seen. Frequently the names 
were accompanied by verses such as : — 

A Warning. 
From a Dwight's Geography, 1802. 

If this book should chance to roam 
Box its ears and send it home. 



154 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Steal not this book, for if you do, 
Tom Harris will be after you. 

Steal not this book for fear of strife 
For the owner carries a big jackknife. 

Steal not this book my honest friend 
for fear the gallos will be your end 
The gallos is high, the rope is strong, 
To steal this book you know is wrong. 

Let every lerking thief be taught, 
This maxim always sure, 
That learning is much better bought 
Than stolen from the poor. 
Then steel not this book. 

Wise Advice in a Murray's English Reader, 1822. 

Reduced one-half. 

The longest and most impressive of these incanta- 
tions against possible purloiners was the following: — 




Fly-leaf Scribblings 155 

Whosoever steals this 
Book away may 
Think on that great 
judgement day when 
Jesus Christ shall 
come and say 
Where is that book you 
stole away. 
Then you will say 
I do not know 
and Christ will say 
go down below. 

The most dubious fly-leaf inscription that I have 
seen is this one : — 

Francis Barton 
is my name a merica 
is my nation 
pitsfield is my 
dweling place 
and christ is my 
salvation when 
i am dead and 
in my grave and 
all my bones are 
rotton its youl 
remember me or else 
i will be forgotten. 

In a tiny volume published in Boston in 1685 
entitled the Protestant Tutor, I find a quatrain of a 
very different character from the rough humor or 
the belligerent threatenings of the usual fly-leaf 
entries. It runs thus : — 



156 Old-time Schools and School-books 

William Graham his Book 

God grant him grace therein to look, 

that he may run that blessed race 

that heaven may be his dwelling Place. 

A rhyme of similar gentleness was: — 

This Book was bought for good Intent 
pray bring it home when it is lent. 




^ar^fykv Ma? -£**£$ 

Lines from a Bingham's American Preceptor, 1803. 

Sometimes a series of jingles was so arranged as 
to lead the reader on a wild goose chase. At the 
top of one of the early pages would be written : — 



If my name you wish to see 
look on page 103. 



Fly-leaf Scribblings 157 

Turn to that page and you have : — 

If my name you cannot find 
look on page 109. 

Again do as you are bidden, and you are rewarded 
with : — 

If my name you cannot find 
Shut up the book and never mind. 

On occasion the poetry dealt with some incidental 
topic, as, for example, these lines in an Adams's 
arithmetic : — - 

Oh may I learn with true submission 
Daniel Adams composition. 

A ditty which was considered a fitting characteriza- 
tion to inscribe in the school histories was this : — 

If there should be another flood, 

Then to this book I'd fly ; 
If all the earth should be submerged 

This book would still be dry. 

Among the schoolgirls attending the academies it 
was a fad to write sentimental verses of affection in 
each other's books, thus : — 

To Miss Lottie 

I always wish you happiness 
No sorrow veil your earthly bliss ; 
And when this little piece, you see 
Of friendship mine remember me. 

Your friend and schoolmate 

Mary Ann W. 



158 Old-time Schools and School-books 

To Ellen 

Many, many a "oice will greet me, 
In a low and gentle tone 
But its music will not cheer me 
Like the cadence of thine own. 

A Friend 

The boys once in a while made similar declara- 
tions, but these were usually in prose, and evidently 
were not intended so seriously as those the girls 
produced. Very likely the lad to whom the 
endearments were addressed would append joking 
comments. Here are specimens of masculine handi- 
work : — 

You give your heart 

to me and I will give 

mine to you we will lock them 

up together and throw away the key 

No Sir ee Oh yes 

I shall always think of you as a dear friend 

S. Gray 

All right Gray ; only don't tell any one else about it 

Lee 

A school-book in my possession that is dated 1832 
has pencilled inside the front cover these lines : — 

Puzzle 
writen over the commandments 

P.RS.V.R.Y.P.RF.CTM.N 
.V.RK..PTH.S.PR.C.PTST.N 



Fly-leaf Scribblings 159 

No solution was offered, and I studied over the mys- 
terious medley for some time before I saw that it 
made sense if an E was substituted for each of the 
dots. 

In another of my books, published a dozen years 
later, is a fly-leaf assertion that 

1 1 weeks will never go away 
never never never never 

What repining and hopeless melancholy in looking 
forward to the long term just begun ! 

Some children would fill in with their lead pencils 
every letter on the page they were studying, and 
they might even fill in the loops of the ^'s, d's, and 
other letters that had enclosed spaces suited to the 
whim. They delighted also to go over with pencil 
.portions of the illustrations. If imaginative, they 
were apt to improve the pictures by putting in new 
features, and would run ropes to the ground from a 
sailing balloon, draw weather-vanes on the houses, etc. 

Toward the end of the spellers was often a page 
of first names, male and female; and the owner of a 
book, recognizing some of these as belonging to his 
friends, was very likely inspired to write in the appro- 
priate surnames, as follows : — 

A'bel Chapin 
Jlon'%o Tyler 
Eli'sha Gunn 
Jb'by Bliss 
Nan 1 cy Steadman 



160 Old-time Schools and School-books 

I have a Webster's Elementary Spelling Book that 
belonged to S. Augusta Tinker. She must have 
liked her name, for it is found on page after page, 
and occasionally several times on the same page. 
The S. stood for Sarah or Sally, and occurs written 
in each of these ways. Evidently the book served 
for communication with other scholars, else why 
such pencillings as — 

you must go out of school if you dont be 

have better 
lend me piece of paper 
you may tak it after recess 

Here is an item which I suppose must be credited 
to one of the owner's schoolmates: — 



Augusta 



is goozey 



Another interesting freak is the supplementing 
the short sentences of the book with comments in 
this fashion : — 

The mason puts a layer of mortar between bricks, thev dont 
Intemperance is the grievious sin of our country, so it is 
Boys like a warm fire in a wintery day. so do girles 

Along with the 
writing in the old 
books there is more 
or less drawing. The 
very earlv books 
A Fly-leaf Bird. sometimes have fly- 

From a grammar of 1714. ^af sketches of I fid- 




Fly-leaf Scribblings 



161 



ians and log houses. The later books have houses 

of a more modern sort, and you find rude draw- 
ings of steamboats, houses, birds, 

flowers, faces, and the like. Often 

a penny or other coin was slipped 

under the fly-leaf and the surface 

of the paper covering the coin was 

rubbed with a piece of lead from 

the schoolboy's pocket, or with the 

blunt end of a pencil. Usually 

the boy was not satisfied till he got 

a print of both sides of the coin. 
Five characteristic school-book 

decorations are shown cm pages 

162 and 163. The first is a scroll 

that could be lengthened out clear 

across a fly-leaf or all down a 

text-page border. The second 

is a flourish that frequently ap- 
peared beneath a signature. The third was made by 

drawing equidistant from one another sixteen dots 
and then pencilling a consecu- 
tive line that would gradually 
enclose them all with its loops. 
The fourth is a scheme of the 
same sort which was sometimes 
called "a basket of eggs." The 
last design was known as " a 
Spanish S." All these things 
were drawn on slates and 
blackboards as well as in the 
books. 




A Soldier. 

Drawn in Webb's The Com- 
mon School Songster, 1 843- 




A Fly-leaf Rubbing from an 
Old Medal. 



1 62 Old-time Schools and School-books 



The children had numerous methods for defacing 
their school-books, and they also had certain devices 




Scroll Work. 




A Diminishing Scroll 



for keeping them in good order. Many of the 
older books are protected by an outer cover of 
sheepskin neatly folded in at the edges and sewed 




A Conventional Combination of Dots and Line. 



in place with homespun tow. After 1825 this outer 
covering was apt to be calico, and sometimes there 
were tie strings attached at the sides. The girls 



Fly-leaf Scribblings 



163 



were addicted to the use of a " thumb paper," folded 
and slipped in where the thumb rested when the 




A Basket of 



book was in use. This might be merely made of 
a piece of newspaper or wrapping paper ; or it might 
be nice new foolscap, or possibly 
bright blue or red glazed paper. 
Some children had their thumb 
papers attached to the book by 
a long thread, and they were par- 
ticularly happy if instead of the 
thread they acquired a bit of 
gay-colored sewing-silk from the 
mother's work-basket. 

The most serious attention 
the average boy gave to his books «a Spanish s." 




64 Old-time Schools and School-books 



had to do with the corners. When the leaves began 
to be dog-eared, he would get out his knife and care- 
fully pare off the page corners of the entire book; 

and if he had an 
eye for beauty, he 
was not satisfied 
with a straight 
cut, but would 
round the corners. 
As soon as the 
leaves again 
showed a dog- 
eared tendency, 
the paring pro- 
cess was repeated. 
For nearly fifty 
years after the 
Revolution the 
common text- 
book binding was 
either full leather, 
or was a leather 
back attached to 
sides of wood that 
were pasted over 
with blue paper. 
The full leather 
books, unless 
quite thin, had the titles on the backs; the others 
had no lettering. Occasionally, instead of blue paper, 
there was marble paper or a fancy paper suggestive 
of wall-paper on the sides. The earliest book I 




A Protecting Cover of Leather stitched with Tow. 
Reduced one-third. 



Fly-leaf Scribblings 165 

have seen with printed sides is dated 181 8, but 
within the next decade cover printing became com- 
mon. It soon was customary to print on the back 
cover a list of books issued by the publisher. At 
first, however, the publisher, if he was also a book- 
seller and stationer, as he was pretty sure to be, used 
this space for advertising like the following : — 

For Sale. 

Bibles, Testaments, Spelling Books, Readers and Geog- 
raphies, Atlases, Primers, Writing-paper, Inkstands, Ink- 
Powder, Slates, Pencils, Quills, Pen-knives, Wafers, Psalm 
Books, Writing Books, on the covers of which is printed 
a System of Writing. 

There is a similar suggestion of primitiveness and 
rusticity in the way the publishers sometimes made 
known their location. Thus, at the foot of the title- 
page of The American Grammar by Robert Ross, 
1782, we find, "Hartford, Printed by Nathaniel 
Patten a few Rods North of the Court-Houfe " ; 
and On a New England Primer title-page of 1770, 
" Bofton, Printed and Sold by William M'Alpine, 



HARTFORD : 

PRINTED BY HUDSON AND GOODWIN. 

Sold hy them, at their Book-ftore, oppofite the North Meeting- 

Houfe. By /. Been, New-Haven. By B. Tallmadge & Co. 

.Litchfield, By T. C. Green, New-Londoa ; and by 

Andrew Huntington, Norwich. 



1802, 

A Title-page Imprint. 
From Dwight's A Short but Comprehensive System of the Geography of the World- 



1 66 Old-time Schools and School-books 

about Mid-way between the Governor's and Dr. 
Gardiner's in Marlborough Street." 

The publishing was not by any means confined 
to the large cities. In New England, the chief 
source of school-book supply, every town of any con- 
sequence and enterprise seemed to have its text- 
book publishers. The compilers were very apt to 
put forth their books from the town where they 
lived. Thus, Hartford, which was the home of an 
unusual number of prolific text-book authors, was 
for a time the most important educational publish- 
ing centre in America. 




As 



A 




A A 



A Fly-leaf Animal. 



VII 

NOAH WEBSTER AND HIS SPELLING-BOOK 

NOAH WEBSTER was bornOctober 16,1758, 
in Hartford, Connecticut, about three miles 
from the centre of the city. His father, 
Noah Webster, Sr., was a respectable farmer, a deacon 
in the church, and a justice of the peace. The boy 
worked on the home farm and attended the village 
school. When he had reached the age of fourteen, 
we find him beginning the study of the classics 
under the instruction of the parish clergyman, and 
two years later he was admitted to Yale College. 
The Revolutionary War seriously interrupted the 
college course, but he graduated with credit in 1778, 
and his father gave him an eight-dollar Continental 
bill, then worth about half its face value in specie, 
and told him he must henceforth rely on his own 
exertions. 

It had been young Webster's intention to become 
a lawyer. The country, however, was impoverished 
by the war, and his first necessity was to make a 
living. So he resorted to school teaching. Peda- 
gogy at that time was attended with unusual difficul- 
ties. Not only was the war still in progress, but 
the interruption of intercourse with Great Britain 
had made school-books very scarce. The need of 
167 



1 68 Old-time Schools and School-books 

a home source of text-book supply was evident, and 
in 1782, while in charge of a school in Orange 
County, New York, Webster compiled a spelling- 
book. This was printed at Hartford the next year 




Noah Webster. 



and gradually won very wide acceptance — so wide, 
indeed, that during the twenty years its author was 
engaged in preparing his dictionary, 1807 to 1827, 
the profits from that one little school-book furnished 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 169 

the entire support of his family, though his copy- 
right receipts were less than a cent a book. The 
sales went on increasing up to the time of Mr. Web- 
ster's death, at the age of eighty-four. A million 
copies annually were then being called for and the 
total distribution had reached twenty-four millions. 

In his person Webster was tall and slender. To 
the very end he was remarkably erect, and his step 
light. and elastic. He was enterprising, self-reliant, 
and very methodical, and a most persevering worker. 
Besides the monumental labor of making his dic- 
tionary, he had much to do with newspapers and 
magazines, both as editor and contributor, and he 
wrote a great number of books and pamphlets on 
literary, historical, medical, religious, scientific, and 
political subjects, some of which were of very marked 
value in forming public opinion. He taught school 
in his early manhood for about ten years, and then, 
from 1789 to 1793, was a lawyer in Hartford. Dur- 
ing other periods, he served as an alderman in New 
Haven, as a judge in one of the Connecticut courts, 
and as a member of the Massachusetts legislature. 
His activity was astonishing in amount and variety, 
and it was unceasing. Mental exertion seemed to 
be the native element of his soul. 

Webster had originally intended to call his speller 
The American Instructor, but by the advice of the 
president of Yale College, the title was changed 
to The First Part of a Grammatical Institute of the 
English Language, the other parts being a grammar 
and a reader issued shortly afterward. Profound 
names were to the liking of the old college presidents. 



170 Old-time Schools and School-books 

When Mary Lyon was starting her famous school 
for girls at South Hadley, President Hitchcock of 
Amherst proposed she should call it " The Pangy- 
naskian Seminary " ; but she, wiser than Noah 
Webster in this matter, did not accept the sugges- 
tion, although the meaning of the name — that the 
whole woman was to be put to school — was exceed- 
ingly appropriate. 

For a score of years Webster's spelling-book bore 
the ponderous title conferred on it, and yet survived. 
Then he changed the name to The American-Spelling- 
book^ and still later to The Elementary Spelling-book. 
From almost the very first it took the leading place 
among books of its class and kept that place for 
many decades. Webster, in a general way, compiled 
his book on the plan of Dilworth's, the most popu- 
lar English speller of the century ; but radical di- 
vergencies were not lacking, for he aspired to reform 
the language and simplify the spelling. Hitherto 
the spelling in the different text-books had been far 
from uniform ; and in letters, records, and other 
manuscripts of the time there was a curious variety 
in word construction. Even men of high education 
often spelled the same word in several different 
ways ; but Webster presently became the American 
standard and brought order out of chaos. He did 
not accomplish all that he at first planned in the 
way of reform, but some of his innovations, like the 
treatment of Hon and sion as single syllables instead 
of two, as had formerly been the custom, found per- 
manent acceptance, and he did very effective work 
in counteracting vulgarisms in pronunciation. 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 171 

When the first edition of the spelling-book was 
printed, Webster had to give a bond to make good 
any loss that might result, but the copyright was 
soon very valuable. Authors were in the habit of 
selling the printers the right to issue editions of 
their books ' for a certain number of years, and 
Webster sold his privilege to a firm in his home 
city, and to other firms in Boston, Albany, New 
York, and Philadelphia. Such a multiplication of 
publishers would hardly do now, but the old-time 
difficulties of transportation afforded these firms 
ample protection from rival encroachment. In 1817, 
when the speller was revised, one printer gave 
Webster three thousand dollars a year for his term 
of copyright, and another forty thousand for the 
privilege of publishing editions for fourteen years. 

Each printer varied his issue in minor particulars 
to please his own fancy. One edition appeared 
" embellished " with a portrait of " The Father of 
his Country," another with a dreadful woodcut that 
purported to show the features of " Noah Webster, 
Jun. Esq.," but which made him look like a por- 
cupine. This engraving and the absurd title of 
the book furnished vulnerable points of attack. 
Names like " Mr. Grammatical Institute," " Mr. 
Institutional Genius," and " Mr. Squire, Jun." 
were applied to the author, and one critic drew up 
a mock will, in which he bequeathed Webster "six 
Spanish-milled dollars, to be expended on a new 
plate of his portrait at the head of his spelling-book, 
that which graces it at present being so ugly it scares 
the children from their lessons ; but this legacy is 



172 Old-time Schools and School-books 

to be paid only on condition that he leaves out the 
title of 'Squire at the bottom of said picture, which 
is extremely odious in an American school-book, 
and must inevitably tend to corrupt the principles 
of the republican babies that behold it." 

Webster was a good deal disturbed by the criti- 
cisms passed on his book, and in replying to one 
which especially irritated him, he challenged the 
writer to " meet him in the field." But the offender 
chose to shed ink instead of blood, and the warfare 
was confined to the columns of the newspapers. 
Fortunately this sort of thing proved good adver- 
tising and brought the speller thoroughly into notice. 

One of the first effects of the publication of the 
Grammatical Institute was to make spelling a craze. 
Previously spelling had been little taught, but now 
it absorbed a large share of the student interest and 
enthusiasm, and the pupil who could " spell down 
the whole school" ranked second only to him who 
surpassed the rest in arithmetic. The child at the 
head of a class when the day ended had a credit 
mark, and perhaps was given a written certificate of 
good scholarship to carry home. There were in- 
stances, too, where the spelling classes had prizes — 
possibly a half dollar for the oldest class, a quarter 
for the next, and a " nine-pence " for the little ones. 
Each prize coin was drilled and hung on a string, 
and the winners in the afternoon spelling lessons 
were entitled to carry a coin suspended from their 
necks until the next morning, when these decora- 
tions were turned over to the teacher to be again 
contended for. A record was kept, and at the close 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 173 

1 




The Portrait in "The Old Blue-back " that scared the Children. 



174 Old-time Schools and School-books 

of the term the child who had carried the coin home 
the greatest number of times was given permanent 
possession. 

Once a week the school would choose sides for a 
spelling-match. This match took up half the after- 
noon and was frequently attended with efforts to de- 
fraud and exhibitions of envy. The side which spelled 
best was declared to have " beat " and usually mani- 
fested much triumph. The spelling-matches were 
also a common recreation of the winter evenings, 
and from time to time neighboring districts sent 
their champions to contend for orthographic honors 
in friendly combat. To these evening contests 
came not only the day pupils, but the older brothers 
and sisters and the rest of the community. Horace 
Greeley, when a tiny white-headed youngster of five 
or six years, had already become a famous speller, 
and had not an equal in his district. He was 
always the first one chosen at the spelling schools. 
Sometimes he fell asleep in his place before the 
evening was over and had to be nudged by his 
companions when his turn came. He would 
instantly be alert, spell his word, and then drop 
asleep again. 

After the spelling came recitations of poetry, to- 
gether with oratory and dialogues. The dialogues 
were inclined to buffoonery, but the oratory was 
entirely serious, though not infrequently it was high- 
flown to the point of grandiloquence. The speeches 
of the patriot leaders of the Revolution were always 
favorites, especially Patrick Henry's " Give me 
Liberty or Give me Death." 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 175 

Until the Grammatical Institute became The 
Elementary Spelling-book in 1829, the usual binding 
consisted of a back of leather and sides of thin 
oaken boards pasted over with a dull blue paper. 
Blue paper of a somewhat brighter tint was used on 
the later editions, and the speller was often spoken 
of as " The Old Blue-back." Up to the time of 
the Elementary, the cover was entirely without letter- 
ing. The sheets were held together and fastened 
into the cover by means of two strands of tape that 
pierced the folds of paper a quarter inch from the 
back, and the book opened very stubbornly. In 
fact it could never be induced to be outspread flat 
unless the tape was severed. The paper was coarse, 
the ink poor, and the print varied from muddy 
blackness to a faint illegibility. 

For the first two or three years that the children 
attended school, during the earlier decades of the 
Republic, Webster's speller was their chief text- 
book. Not only was it primer and spelling-book 
combined, but there was a formidable introduction 
containing an " Analysis of Sounds in the English 
Language," to be learned word for word. The 
Analysis begins with this definition : — 

Language or speech is the utterance of articulate sounds 
or voices, rendered significant by usage, for the expression 
and communication of thoughts. 

The rest of the explanations were in the same vein. 
Of course they failed to convey their meaning to the 
child mind, and the teacher offered no elucidation. 

After the introduction there was a page devoted 



176 Old-time Schools and School-books 

to the alphabet. The letters, Roman and Italic, 
large and small, were arranged in several columns, 
and opposite each letter in a final column was the 
letter's name. Webster called r, er, and w, 00, while 
in addition to the usual name for h, he gives he, and 
for y, ye. Authorities differed in naming the letters. 
Hale's speller, 1799, names w, ew, and says in a foot- 
note : " Two words or two syllables make an awk- 
ward name for a letter. U and w have the same 
sounds, and should have names as nearly alike as 
can be distinguished from each other." 

A London speller of 17 12 pronounced w, wee, 
and in another English speller j appears as jee or 
jod ; still another colonial speller gives j as iazh and 
z as zad or zed. 

In Webster's book the alphabet is succeeded by 
a page packed with " ab, eb, ib," and the rest of 
those meaningless word fragments. Then come 
three-letter words, and orthoepy is fairly begun. 
The long columns march on without a break over 
to page 43 where we find a few " lessons of easy 
words to teach children to read, and to know their 
duty." This first reading looks like poetry, yet 
when you test it, you discover it is a very prosaic 
prose. The opening paragraph is 

No man may put off the law of God ; 
My joy is in his law all the day. 
O may I not go in the way of sin ! 
Let me not go in the way of ill men. 

Throughout the remainder of the book the read- 
ing breaks the spelling columns quite frequently. 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 177 

The following selections will show how aptly the 
preface described the reading lessons when it said 
that they were planned " to combine, with the familiar- 
ity of objects, useful truth, and practical principles." 



A good child will not lie, swear, nor steal. — He will be 
good at home, and ask to read his book ; when he gets up 
he will wash his hands and face clean ; he will comb his 
hair and make haste to school ; he will not play by the 
way as bad boys do. 

As for those boys and girls that mind not their books, 
and love not the church and school, but play with such as 
tell lies, curse, swear and steal, they will come to some bad 
end, and must be whipt till they mend their ways. 

January begins the year, and the first day of that month 
is called New Year's day. Then people express to each 
other their good wishes, and little boys and girls expect 
gifts of little books, toys and plums. 

There are five stages of human life, infancy, childhood, 
youth, manhood, and old age. The infant is helpless ; he 
is nourished with milk — when he has teeth he begins to 
eat bread, meat, and fruit, and is very fond of cakes and 
plums. The little boy chuses some plaything that will 
make a noise, a hammer, a stick or a whip. The little 
girl loves her doll and learns to dress it. She chuses a 
closet for her baby-house, where she sets her doll in a little 
chair, by the side of a table, furnished with tea-cups as big 
as a thimble. 

As soon as boys are large enough, they run away from 
home, grow fond of play, climb trees to rob birds' nests, 
tear their clothes, and when they come home their parents 
often chastise them. — O how the rod makes their legs 
smart. These are naughty boys, who love play better than 
their books. 



178 Old-time Schools and School-books 

One feature that appears rather queer in an ele- 
mentary school-book is a lesson of " Precepts con- 
cerning the Social Relations." In this the "young 
man, seeking for a partner for life," is advised to 
" Be not in haste to marry," and the young women 
to — 

Be cautious in listening to the addresses of men. Is 
thy suitor addicted to low vices ? is he profane ? is he a 
gambler ? a tippler ? a spendthrift ? a haunter of taverns ? 
and, above all, is he a scoffer at religion ? — Banish such a 
man from thy presence, his heart is false, and his hand 
would lead thee to wretchedness and ruin. 

Then for married people there are suggestions of 
this sort : — 

Art thou a husband? Treat thy wife with tenderness; 
reprove her faults with gentleness. 

Art thou a wife ? Respect thy husband ; oppose him 
not unreasonably, but yield thy will to his, and thou shalt 
be blest with peace and concord ; study to make him 
respectable ; hide his faults. 

The reading which appealed most forcibly to the 
students who conned " The Old Blue-back " was 
undoubtedly a series of eight short fables, each with 
an illustration. One of the fables in particular made 
a profound impression, and no child ever forgot it 
or its picturesque telling. This was the story — 

Of the Boy that stole Apples. 

An old Man found a rude Boy upon one of his trees 
stealing Apples, and desired him to come down ; but the 
young Sauce-box told him plainly he would not. Won't 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 179 

you ? said the old Man, then I will fetch you down ; so he 
pulled up some tufts of Grass and threw at him ; but this 
only made the Youngster laugh, to think the old Man 
should pretend to beat him down from the tree with grass 
only. 




Fable I. — Of the Boy that Jiole Apples;, 

From a Webster's speller dated 1 789. 

Well, well, said the old Man, if neither words nor grass 
will do, I must try what virtue there is in Stones : so the 
old Man pelted him heartily with stones, which soon made 
the young Chap hasten down from the tree and beg the old 
Man's pardon. 

MORAL 

If good words and gentle means will not reclaim the wicked, 
they must be dealt with in a more severe manner. 

The book ends with " A Moral Catechism " of 
about a dozen pages. The topics considered are "Of 
Humility, Of Mercy, Of Revenge, Of Industry," 
etc., and include such questions and answers as : — 



180 Old-time Schools and School-books 

i^. Is pride commendable ? 

A. By no means. A modest, self-approving opinion of 
our own good deeds is very right — it is natural — it is 
agreeable, and a spur to good actions. But we should not 
suffer our hearts to be blown up with pride ; for pride 
brings upon us the ill-will of mankind, and displeasure of 
our Maker. 

The Elementary Spelling-book, which appeared in 
1829, had a frontispiece and seven pictures in the 




Fable .11, — The Country Maid and her 
Milk Pail. 

From a Webster's speller dated 1 789. 

text. There was also an illustrated edition contain- 
ing the identical material that was in the other except 
that every spelling page had a narrow cut added at 
the top. The lists of words in the Elementary were 
newly arranged and were more comprehensive than 
in its predecessors, but the most noticeable change 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 181 

was in the reading matter. The Moral Catechism 
was omitted, and so were the scattered religious and 




Frontispiece to Webster's Elementary, 1829. 

ethical lessons. Four of the little fables were re- 
tained unaltered, but instead of the other four we 



1 82 Old-time Schools and School-books 

find "The Dog," "The Stag," and "The Squir- 
rel " described, a paragraph to each. Then there 
was a half-page disquisition about time. The read- 



■1 


WPWIPIIiii 


.M, 


ggS*f|fl;ji ^K^S^'lL';'^ 


$M 




soft; 




■1 


w^^vi^i 


1 



" A Virago is a Turbulent, Masculine Woman." 
From the illustrated edition of 1829. 

ing otherwise consisted of short disconnected sen- 
tences containing as a rule wise advice, or state- 
ments of interesting facts. Nearly every page had 




" An Orator makes Orations." 
From the illustrated edition, 1829. 

some of these sentences, and they numbered over 
a thousand in all. Below are selections from them, 
beginning with the shortest and simplest : — 

an ox 

is it so 

I am to go in 

He has got a new tub 



Noah Webster and his Spelling-book 183 

The man can put on his wig 

I love the young lady that shows me how to read. 

Vipers are bad snakes, and they bite men. 

I saw a rill run down the hill. 

Visitors should not make their visits too long. 

Style not in verse is called prose. 

The birds fly from branch to branch on the trees and 
clinch their claws fast to the limbs. 

Wolves howl in the woods, in the night. 

Never pester the little boys. 

The lark will soar up in the sky to look at the sun. 

Forks have two or three tines. 

Shut the gate, and keep the hogs out of the yard. 

The dysentery is a painful disease. 

Our blood is often chilled at the recital of acts of cruelty. 

When large hailstones fall on the house they make a 
great racket. 

Pompions are commonly called pumpkins. 

The chewing of tobacco is a useless custom. 

Many kings have been thrown down from their thrones. 

The rainbow is a token that the world will not be 
drowned again. 

Christ is a mediator between an offended God and 
offending man. 

A piece of cloth, if good, is worth what it will bring. 

Friday is just as lucky a day as any other. 

It is a mean act to deface the figures on a mile stone. 

The ladies adorn their heads and necks with tresses. 

Fiction is a creature of the imagination. 

It- is every man's duty to bequeath to his children a rich 
inheritance of pious precepts. 

The love of whiskey has brought many a stout fellow 
to the whipping-post. 

Large bushy whiskers require a good deal of nursing and 
training. 



184 Old-time Schools and School-books 



The little sentences make a curious medley, and 
are not at all childlike ; yet they have a certain 
lively straightforwardness and are often picturesque 
and entertaining. They inculcate thrift, sobriety, 
and the other virtues, and considerable instruction 
is conveyed by them, though some of it is rather 
indigestible. All the editions of Webster's book from 
first to last have about them a certain crudity and 
primitiveness, but the book was suited to the times 
and regions when and where it most flourished. It 
did its work well, and it would have made Noah 
Webster's fame secure, had he produced nothing 
else. Its sway weakened first in New England, 
but its use continued to increase in the South and 
West until the Civil War began. Since then the 
sales have dwindled, yet there are schools where it 
is studied even at present, and " The Old Blue- 
back" stands unrivalled among American books in 
circulation and length of life. 




The Bad Boy, as he appeared in the Illustrated Edition of 1829. 



VIII 

OTHER SPELLERS 

JOHN LOCKE, in 1690, said of elementary 
school education in England, " The method 
is to adhere to the ordinary road of the Horn- 
book, Primer, Psalter, Testament, and Bible ; 
these are the only books used to engage the liking 
of children and tempt them to read." "The ordi- 
nary road " was the same here. There were three 
reading classes in the schools — " The Psalter Class " 
for beginners, next " The Testament Class," and 
thirdly " The Bible Class," which went through 
about two chapters at each school session and was 
expected to spell the words in the portions read. 
For a long time spelling-books were lacking, and 
they did not become common much before 1750; 
but after that time for fully three-quarters of a 
century the spelling-book was almost the sole re- 
source of the school children for elementary instruc- 
tion. Advanced readers were in the market in the 
early years of the republic, but readers for the be- 
ginners seem to have been thought unnecessary. 
Thus the spellers of the forefathers did double duty 
as spelling-books and primers, and were a much 
more important institution than they have ever 
been since. 

185 



1 86 Old-time Schools and School-books 

During the years immediately preceding the 
Revolution, Dilworth's speller was accepted almost 
universally, but Noah Webster's book presently 
supplanted it. The next American speller to take 
the field was The Child's Companion, a small, thin 
volume compiled by Caleb Bingham. As com- 
pared with most of the early text-books, The Child's 
Companion was bright and attractive. Like all the 

re-ply fet-tee tranf-late un-wife 
re-port fe-vere tranf-grefs u-nite 
re-pr/eve fhal-loon tranf-plant un-feen 

TABLE VI. 

Eafy Lefibns, conjijiing of Monofyllables, ta 

be read without fpelling. 

Lesson I. 

MY child, love God with all thy heart. 
Let it be thy joy to do his will. 
O do fiat go in the way of fin ! 
(Turn tby feet from the road to death. 

From Bingham's The Child's Companion. 

older spellers, it contained fragments of rudimentary 
prose and verse, and every few pages the " Eafy 
Leffons " for reading made a pause in the column 
of spelling words. The " Eafy Leffons " consisted 
very largely of moral advice and reflections selected 
from the Bible, but in the latter part of the book 
were a number of fables and stories. Two of the 
stories follow : — 



Other Spellers 187 



The PRETTY BUTTERFLY. 

BUTTERFLY, pretty butterfly ! come and reft on the 
flower that I hold in my hand ! Whither goeft thou, 
little fimpleton ? Seeft thou not that hungry bird that 
watches thee ? His beak is fharpened, and already open 
to devour thee. Come, come, then, hither, and he will not 
dare approach thee. I will not pull off" thy wings, nor 
torment thee ; no, no, no ; thou art little and helplefs, like 
myfelf. I only wifh to look at thee nearer. 

I will not keep thee long ; I know thou haft not long to 
live. When the fummer is over, thou will be no more, 
and as for me I fhall only then be fix years old. 

Butterfly, pretty butterfly ! come and reft on this flower 
that I hold in my hand ! Thou haft not a moment to 
lofe from enjoying this fhort life ; but thou mayeft feed 
and regale thyfelf all the time that I look at thee. 



A DIALOGUE between Mifs CHARLOTTE 
and Mifs SOPHIA. 

Charlotte 1\ /T^^ Sophia, why do you always carry your 
IV A Spelling Book to fchool with you ? I carry 
nothing but my work. 

Sophia. Becaufe I mean to learn to fpell as well as learn 
to work. 

Char. I mean to learn to fpell too. But what great 
matter is it if one is not always fo very exact about one's 
fpelling ? 

Soph. Why, if we don't fpell our words a little accord- 
ing to cuftom, people will not be able to make fenfe of 
them. 

Char. But mamma fays if they do but know what we 
mean, that is enough. She fays, I may as well begin pin- 



1 88 Old-time Schools and School-books 

cufhion with the /aft letter, and end it with the /fr//, as any- 
way, if I am but underftood. 

Soph. That is the very thing. If you fhould begin it 
with an «, and end it with a />, you would be more likely 
to make night cap of it than pincufhion ; and that would be a 
fad miftake. 

Char. Well now, I will tell you a little affair, if you 
will promife to keep it a fecret. 

Soph. You know I never reveal fecrets. 

Char. Last New Year's day, I wanted to make my 
coufin Sally Chapman a prefent of a pretty little hiftory 
book. And fo I wrote her name in it and lent it. But, 
inftead of writing it properly, I wrote For Sale Cheap Mon. 
My coufin opened it, and read it ; but could make nothing 
more or lefs of it, than For sale cheap for Money ; and im- 
mediately lent back to know the loweft price. Now, think 
how mortified I was. 

Soph. We must expect that fuch miftakes will often 
happen, if we do not learn to fpell in feafon. I knew a 
man who had a great deal of money, and was about mak- 
ing a great feaft, who fent his fervant to market with an 
order, the true meaning of which was, that he wanted a 
dozen of fowls, either ducks, turkies, or chickens. But it 
was written thus : " Send me a dofe of fools — Dukes will be 
preferred to Turks ; but Chittens will be better than either." 
Guefs the man's aftonifhment, at feeing his fervant come 
home lugging a bafket full of kittens ! 

Char. I fee that great miftakes, and great injuries may 
arife from bad fpelling. I am refolved to learn to be a 
good fpeller too ; and will afk mamma to let me carry my 
fpelling book to fchool every day. 

Soph. I am glad you have come to that refolution. You 
write a very handfome hand ; and nothing looks more 
fhameful than to fee good writing and bad fpelling to- 
gether. 



Other Spellers 189 

What philosophers the school-book children of 
that generation were — and how quickly the virtu- 
ous and industrious won over their less admirable 
mates ! In this dialogue between the two " Miffes " 
the glimpse we get of Charlotte's mother mirrors the 
general opinion of the times that it was hardly worth 
while to teach girls much except sewing and house- 
work, and if they took their stitching to school, it 
did not matter if they left their spellers at home. <-> 

In the back part of Bingham's book is a " collec- 
tion of vulgarisms " of which the author says that 
many more examples might have been added. I 
select rather freely, for the list gives an interesting 
impression of the language in everyday use. It fills 
twelve pages under this heading: — 



APPENDIX. 



Improprieties in Pronunciation, 
common among the people of New-England* 



Afraid 


not Afeard 


chimney 


not chimbly 


afterwards 


arterwards 


cucumber 


cowcumber 


audacious 


outdacious 


confifcate 


confifticate 


awkward 


awkid 


cover 


kiver 


bellows 


belluffes 


drain 


dreen 


boil 


bile 


dandruff 


dander 


bachelor 


bacheldor 


eternity 


etarnity 


bonfire 


burnfire 


earth 


airth 



9 o 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



gown not 
guardian 


gound 
guardeen 


really not 
rheumatifm 


raly 
rheumatiz 


grudge 


begrutch 


fervant 


farvant 


girl 
his 


gal 
hi fen 


fhook 
fuch 


fhuck 
fich 


however 


howzever 


fomething 


futhing 


herbs 
hoof 


yerbs 
huf 


fpirit 
fcarce 


fperrit 
fcafe 


hurricane 
handkerchief 


harricane 
handkercher 


fteady 
fpoonful 


ftiddy 
fpumful 


icicle 


ifuccle 


faufages 


links 


ideas 


idees 


ftunned 


ftunded 


January 


jinuary 


this 


this-ere 


linen 


linning 


that 


that-are 


medicine 


medfon 


tutor 


tutorer 


molaffes 


laffes 


umbrella 


umberriller 


mufquitoes 


fketers 


value 


valley 


mufician 
novelty 


muficianer 
newelty 


voyage 
vagabond 


vige 
vagabone 


nervous 


narvous 


widow 


widder 


ours 


ourn 


wreck 


rack 


potatoes 
quench 


taters 
fquinch 


walnut 
yonder 


warnut 
yender 



The same subject is continued in sentence form 3 
thus : — 



I gin it to him. 

I dun it myfelf. 

He is the mo ft wifeft man. 

He teached a fchool. 

My luives fister is fick. 

She enjoys 3. bad ftate of health. 

He rid and I walked. 

Is your parents living ? 



Other Spellers 191 

I have nary one. 

She fpeaks very proper. 

He don't ought to behave fo. 

What does I do but goes and demands the money. 

I never drink' 'd better wine. 

She died of a Tuefday. 

About a year agone. 

A speller very similar in size and makeup to 
Bingham's was " The Child 's Spelling-book : calcu- 
lated to render Reading Completely Eafy to Little 
Children; Compiled by a printer, Hartford, 1798." 
It is illustrated with a number of pictures and the 
text is unfailingly brisk and entertaining. The first 
reading starts off in this wise : — 

Come hither, Charles, come, tell me your letters ; do 
you know how many there are ? Where is the pin to point 
with ? Here is the pin. Now read your book. 

In the next extract we get more glimpses of old- 
time child life both at school and at home. 

How cold it is ! Where are the little girls and boys ? 
Have they not yet come from fchool ? 

Here they come, here they come. — Who was at the head 
of the clafs to-day ? Rachel. And did fhe get the bow ? 
Yes papa, here is the pretty bow. And will papa give me 
a penny for bringing home the bow ? 

Yes, Rachel fhall have a penny. No, pennies are out 
of date. She fhall have a cent. 

Dinner is ready. Come little frozen boys, come get 
fome pudding. 

Will mamma give Charles fome beer ? Yes, Charles 
fhall have fome beer. 



192 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Wipe your mouth before you drink. Do not cough in 
the cup. 

Thomas f hall I help you to a potato ? No, fir, I have 
dined. 

Then go to the fcullery, and wafh your hands, your face, 
and your teeth. 



This is winter. Well never mind it. We will fit by 
the fire, and read, and tell ftories, and look at pictures. 

Take care, little boy, you ftand too near the fire. You 
will burn your fhoes. 

Do not fpit on the floor. Spit in the corner. 

It is dark. Light the candle. Shut the window-blinds. 
Bring in fome wood. 

The fun is gone to bed. The chickens are gone to 
bed ; and little boys and girls muft go to bed. 

Poor little boy is sleepy. He muft be carried up- 
ftairs. 

Pull off his thoes. Pull off his frock and petticoat. 
Put on his nightcap. 

Lay his head upon the pillow. Cover him up. Good 
night. 

In 1799 appeared Caleb Alexander's The Young 
Ladies and Gentleman s Spelling Book. It was a well- 
printed, leather-bound twelve mo, and contained eight 
engravings, each illustrating a poem by that eminent 
divine, Isaac Watts, whose verse both for adults and 
children was the especial delight of New Englanders 
in the eighteenth century. 

These illustrated poems were the book's most 
distinguished feature as can be imagined from the 
pictures and portions of text which follow : — 



Other Spellers 



193 




Againfi Pride in Clothes, 

From Alexander's Spelling Book, 1799. 

HOW proud we are ! how fond to fhew 
Our clothes, and call them rich and new ! 
When the poor fheep and filkworm wore 
That very clothing long before. 

The tulip and the butterfly 

Appear in gayer coats than I : 

Let me be dreft fine as I will, 

Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me ftill. 

Then will I fet my heart to find 
Inward adornings of the mind; 
Knowledge and virtue, truth and grace, 
Thefe are the robes of richeft drefs. 



No more fhall worms with me compare ; 
This is the raiment Angels wear; 
It takes no fpot, but ftill refines ; 
The more 'tis worn the more it fhines. 



194 



Old-time Schools and School-books 




Againjl Evil Company. 

From Alexander's Spelling Book. 

WHY fhould I join with them in play, 
In whom I've no delight ; 
Who curie and fwear, but never pray. 
Who call ill names, and fight ? 

I hate to hear a wanton fong ; 

The words offend my ears ; 
I fhould not dare defile my tongue 

With language fuch as theirs. 

My God, I hate to walk or dwell 

With finful children here ; 
Then let me not be fent to hell, 

Where none but Tinners are. 



THIS is the day when Chrift arofe 
So early from the dead ; 
Why fhould I keep my eyelids clof'd, 
And wafte my hours in bed ? 



Other Spellers 1 95 

Today with pleafure chriftians meet, 

To pray, and hear thy word ; 
And I will go with cheerful feet 

To learn thy will, O Lord. 

I'll leave my fport and read and pray, 

And fo prepare for heaven ; 
O may I love this blessed day, 

The beft of all the feven. 




For the Lord's Day Morning. 

From Alexander's Spelling Book. 

The Columbian Spelling Book, Wrentham, Massa- 
chusetts, 1799, was similar to Alexander's in size, 
but was more roughly made, and the cuts were mar- 
vels of crudity. Two of these queer engravings are 
here given with the fables they illustrated. 

The Dove and the Bee. 

A POOR Bee came to a brook to drink, but in her 
hafte fhe fell in, and would have loft her life, had it 
not been for a dove, who broke off a fmall twig from a 



196 Old-time Schools and School-books 

tree, and dropped it in, fo that the bee got on the top of it, 
and rode fafe to fhore. 

In a few days time a man came with his gun, and would 
have fhot the kind dove ; but the bee, who was clofe by, 
saw what he was at, flew to him, and ftung him on his 



*^:®&)&w£&0&&:&:®:&0:&:&M0& 




The Dove and the Bee. 
From The Columbian Spelling Book, 1 799. 

" For now, thought fhe bee is my time, and I will fave 
my friend, if I die for it." As foon as the man felt the 
fting, he made a ftart, and the good dove flew off", and got 
fafe to her neft. 

MORAL. 

Learn from hence to help thofe who are in need as 
much as you can. 

The Old Knight and his Wig. 

A CERTAIN Knight growing old, his hair fell off fo 
faft, that he foon became bald ; and fo he was forced 
to buy a wig. But one day, as he was riding out a hunting 



Other Spellers 



97 



with fome of his mates, they met with a fudden blaft of 
wind ; and fo off fell his hat and wig. Thofe who were 
with him could not help laughing at the odd figure he made ; 
and for his part, being a cheerful old blade, he laughed as 
loud as the beft of them. How could I expect faid he to 
keep the hair of other people on my head, when my own 
would not ftay on ? 

38t di. 




The Old Knight and his Wig. 
From The Columbian Spelling Book. 

MORAL. 

The beft way to turn off the edge of a joke is to join 
in the laugh yourself. 

A spelling-book with a title suggesting relationship 
to the one of which I have just been speaking was 
The Columbian Primer by H. Mann, Dedham, 1802. 
It was a small book of eighty-four pages, quite 



198 Old-time Schools and School-books 




Cc Stands for Camel, who lives in the eq/i ; 

attractive typographically and containing many pic- 
tures. The author thought the pictures would make 
the lessons " a pleqfure rather than a tqfk," and that 
the teacher would rejoice " in the fatiffaction of 
feeing the animated looks and rapid progrefs of his 
pupils." Most of the pictures were used in illus- 
trating a rhymed alphabet that began with : — 

Aa Stands for Adam, the fir ft of our race; 
Bb Stands for his Bride, with beauty & grace. 




Dd Stands forDrunkard, aworfe looking beafl. 

An Alphabet Rhyme. 
From The Columbian Primer, 1802. 



Other Spellers 



99 




Qjj Stands for a Queen, «^0 looks very gay ? 

Each line has its accompanying picture filling the 
upper third of a page, and the rest of the space is 
devoted to spelling columns. The spelling is scarcely 
interrupted until we get to the last twenty pages 
which are made up of" Lessons in Reading." Nearly 
half this final portion is occupied by a story 
called : — 

The Little Wanderers. 

T was one of thofe fine days of fummer, when all 
nature fmiled with the feason, and feemed to invite 



I 




Rr Stands for Robin, ivhoftngs onthefpray. 

An Alphabet Rhyme. 
From The Columbian Primer, 1802. 



200 Old-time Schools and School-books 

every one abroad to feast among the great variety of 
beauties it afforded ; when young Edivin, about four years 
old, and his little fifter Eliza, aged three, rambled off into 
the woods and could not find the way back. 

We muft now conclude, that young Edwin and Eliza 
were filled with much fear and amazement. We may 
fuppofe they recollected the many frightful ftories they 
had heard of huge, wild beafts and ferpents which fre- 
quent thefe abodes of folitude. 



SHSBIlA^*" 




jg.i.-Jflr. i,u\ 1 ' M 


tig ill !§?|©v 






"~ ^^^r; — — §E~; 


mm 


mmm^A 


«^LJ 


k§xgz>M 




r^ir^ir ^ 






mmtfik 


fes^s 


'^mm^sSImM 



The LITTLE WANDERERS. 

From The Columbian Primer. 



At length there was a thunderstorm of such vio- 
lence that — 

the whole foreft, at times, feemed on fire, and tumbling 
into ruins. Eliza clung round her little brother, and tried 
to hide her face from the lightning, which every moment 
threatened to ftrike them lifelefs. 

Behold, now, the fable curtains of the night fhrouding 
thefe unhappy innocents in the midft of this defolate foreft ! 
Here was no mother to cherifh, and prepare for them a 



Other Spellers 201 

wholefome fupper. And inftead of the downy bed, and 
the foft fong of the Whippoorwill and Nightingale to lull 
them to repofe, naught, but a bed of leaves drenched with 
rain, the wild wind which whiftled terror thro' the trees, 
and the hoarfe note of the Owl, to frighten their ears ! 

Meanwhile, the father and all the neighbors had 
been searching for the children, and the search con- 
tinued unsuccessfully through the stormy night. 
" At last, when the day had dawned, the father 
happening to caft his eyes on a clufter of leaves — 
who fhould he difcover but his fweet babes ! He 
fprang to fold their cold bodies to his bofom : And 
while he wiped the rain from their tender limbs, the 
parental tear ran down his cheeks." 

The mother and a daughter some years older than 
the lost children were with the father. Of this 
older daughter the book says : " How could that 
humane, delicate bosom, which always turned from 
the cruel fcene where the lamb is led to the flaugh- 
ter ; whofe foft hands could never indulge them- 
felves in the barbarous fport of depriving the robin 
of her eggs, much lefs of her young neftlings ; I fay, 
how could this amiable sifter endure the thought 
that her little brother and fifter fhould thus perifh." 

But she was spared the pain ; for while the 
rescuers picked up the children and " were alter- 
nately preffing their clay-cold lips to their own, a 
fmall breath was difcovered to proceed from their 
mouths, and their little hearts faintly vibrated with 
life," and shortly they recovered and the adventure 
ended happily. 



202 Old-time Schools and School-books 



About a dozen years after this Columbian Primer 
was published at Dedham, a speller of the same title 
and very similar appearance was issued in New York. 
The text and illustrations, however, were new, though 
arranged just as in the earlier volume; but where the 
spelling pages of the Dedham book had single cuts at 
the top of each, the New York book had two. Be- 
neath the pictures were jingling couplets such as : — 



The blushing Flowers 
bloom and spring, 

Dick and Tommy go 
to plough 

The pretty Maids have 
modest looks. 



The Birds do in the 
bushes sing. 

And Caty milks the 
brindled cow. 

Good boys and girls will 
learn their books. 




The naughty Boy who 
.steals the pears, 




Is whipt, as well as he 
who swears. 





The Captain boldly The Soldier marches 

draws his sword, * at his word. 

Rhymes from The Columbian Primer, or Ladder to Learning, New York, 1 827. 



Other Spellers 203 

In the portion of a page given herewith from 
Fiske's The New England Spelling-book, Brookfield, 
Massachusetts, 1803, it seems a little odd to find 

Words frequently ttfedin Speaking andWsir- 
iNGy which Jhould he well learned by every 
Scholar. 



Axe 


bri^t 


Dam;* 


fraad 


&ught 


bread 


dawn 


fr%ught 


Badge 


brogue 


detfd 


freight 


baize 


brui fe 


dearth 


frieze 


ba/k 


budge 


deign 


fright 


ba/m 


buoy 


dew 


fruzt 


ba,the 


buy 


dirge 


Gait 


bawd 


Ca/ve 


doe 


glol 




Portion 


of a Page. 






From Fiske's New England Spelling-boot 


:, 1803. 



" Damn " included among the "words which fhould 
be well learned by every Scholar." But words just 
as much out of place are not uncommon in the old 
spellers. To quote a text-book preface of 1828, 
" They contain words collected from all departments 
of nature, life, and action; from the nursery, the 
kitchen, the drawing-room, the stable, the bar-room, 
the gaming table, the seaman's wharf, the apothe- 
cary's shop; from the subtle pages of the metaphysi- 
cian, and the rhapsodies of the pompous pedant." 

The latter part of Fiske's speller, comprising the 
larger half, consists of the Constitution of the United 
States, the Declaration of Independence, the Consti- 



204 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



tution of Massachusetts, and Washington's Farewell 
Address. But preceding these profundities are a 
few short reading lessons of a more entertaining 
character including two " Moral Tales " which each 
have an illustration, the only pictures in the book. 
One of the tales was about — 



MORAL TALES. 




The CHILD and the SERPENT. 

From Fiske's The New England Spelling-book. 



A CHILD, playing with a tame ferpent, faid to it, My 
dear little animal, doft thou imagine I would be fo 
familiar with thee if thy venom was not taken out ; you 
ferpents are the mo ft perverfe, ungrateful creatures. I re- 
member to have read, that a good natured countryman found 



Other Spellers 205 

a ferpent under a hedge, almoft dead with cold. He took 
it up and warmed it in his breaft ; but it was fcarcely come 
to life when it ftung its benefactor, and the too charitable 
peafant died of the wound. This is aftonifhing faid the 
ferpent : How partial are your hiftorians ! Ours relate this 
hiftory in a different manner. Your charitable peafant be- 
lieved the ferpent dead : Its fkin was beautifully variegated 
with different colours; he took it up and was haftening 
home in order to flay it. 

Now tell me whether the ferpent was ungrateful ? 

Hold your tongue, replied the boy. Where is the ingrate 
who cannot find fome excufe to juftify himfelf? 

Well anfwered, interrupted the boy's father, who had lif- 
tened to the dialogue. Neverthelefs, my fon, if ever thou 
fhouldeft hear of an inftance of ingratitude bafer than or- 
dinary, forget not to examine every circumftance to the 
bottom, and be extremely backward in fixing fo foul a ftain 
on any man's character. 

Comly's A New Spelling-book, Philadelphia, 1806, 
has on nearly every page a few short paragraphs of 
reading in addition to the columns of words. The 
first of this reading starts off lugubriously with — 
" All of us, my son, are to die," and the tone of the 
reading lessons right through the book is very 
serious. If there is a pause for a bit of natural his- 
tory about " The Wren," " The Camel," or some 
other creature, it is only momentary, and the text 
promptly reverts to its pedantic and melancholy 
moralizing, often with a touch of theology added. 
Here is one of the longer lessons : — 

Joseph Harris, a child of eleven years old, during his 
last illness, gave the following advice to his sister. Dost 



206 Old-time Schools and School-books 

thou know that it is thy duty to pray to the Lord every 
night, to return him thanks for his preservation through 
the day, and to desire his protection through the night; also, 
in the morning to return thanks to him for relieving thee 
from darkness. 

When thou sittest down to meals, recollect how many 
there are that would be glad of the smallest morsel, while 
thou hast full and plenty : return the Almighty thanks for 
his bounty, and be good to the poor. 

Mind the advice of thy uncles, aunts, and friends. Love 
every body ; even thine enemies. Endeavour to assist thy 
poor afflicted mother, who is struggling through the world, 
with four children without a father, and her fifth going to 
be taken from her. Love thy little brother and sister, and 
walk in the paths of truth, and the Almighty will be a father 
to thee. 

Among spellers of British origin Dilworth's, Fen- 
ning's, Murray's, and Perry's long continued in cir- 
culation, but in the early years of the nineteenth 
century Perry's was by far the most popular. It 
was entitled The Only Sure Guide to the English 
Tongue, although one would have difficulty in per- 
ceiving wherein it was essentially better than some 
of its contemporaries. The thing in Perry's book 
which most impressed those who studied it was the 
frontispiece — a tree of learning. This was growing 
in a schoolyard, and groups of boys were playing in 
its shadow. A ladder reached from the ground up 
into the branches, and several boys were ascending 
with open books in their hands. Another book boy 
had stepped off the ladder into the tree and was pre- 
paring to climb higher, while three boys engrossed 



Other Spellers 



207 



in their books were perched among the loftiest 
branches. To the average child this picture allegory 
was very curious and incomprehensible. 

The reading in Perry is decidedly moral and reli- 
gious ; but once in a while it reverts to such light- 
some matter as the following : — 

COME let us go forth into the fields ; let us see how 
the flowers spring; let us listen to the warbling of the 
birds, and sport ourselves upon the new grass. 



Toward the end of the book are several pages of 
hymns, a number of illustrated fables, a chapter on 
Manners, the Ten Commandments, and a morning 
and evening prayer. Nearly all the old spellers 
included material of this sort. I give two of the 
fables : — 



i 

I 




The naughty Girl reformed. 

From an 1803 edition of Perry's The Only Sure Guide to the English Tongue- 



208 Old-time Schools and School-books 

A CERTAIN little girl ufed to be very naughty ; fhe 
frequently ftrayed away from home without the con- 
fent of her parents ; was often quarrelfome and was fome- 
times fo very wicked as to tell lies. One day fhe went 
into an orchard, and, without leave, took fome fruit and 
was carrying it off. A faithful dog obferved her and pur- 
fued her, and would have bitten her, if a countryman had 
not at that inftant been paffing who very humanely refcued 
her from the jaws of the furious animal. The danger fhe 
was in caufed her to reflect on her paft bad conduct — fhe 
repented of her folly, and became one of the beft children 
in the neighbourhood. 




The Complaisant Hermit. 
From Perry's Only Sure Guide, 1 8 1 1 



The Hermit. 

A hermit, one morning, sat contemplating with pleasure 
on the various objects that lay before him. The woods 
were dressed in the brightest verdure; the birds carolled 
beneath the branches ; the lambs frolicked around the 
meads ; and the ships driven by gentle gales, were return- 



Other Spellers 209 

ing into their proper harbours. In short, every object 
yielded a display either of beauty or of happiness. On a 
sudden arose a violent storm. The winds mustered all 
their fury, and whole forests of oak lay scattered on the 
ground. Darkness instantly succeeded ; hailstones and 
rain were poured forth in cataracts ; and lightning and 
thunder added horrour to the gloom. And, now, the sea, 
piled up in mountains, bore aloft the largest vessels, while 
the horrid uproar of its waves drowned the shrieks of the 
wretched mariners. When the whole tempest had ex- 
hausted its fury, it was instantly followed by the shock of 
an earthquake. 

The poor inhabitants of a neighbouring village flocked 
in crowds to our hermit's cave, religiously hoping that his 
well known sanctity would protect them in their distress. 
They were, however, not a little surprised at the profound 
tranquillity that appeared in his countenance, " My 
friends," said he, " be not dismayed. Terrible to me, as 
well as to you, would have been the war of the elements 
we have just beheld, but that I have meditated with so 
much attention on the various works of Providence, as 
to be persuaded that his goodness is equal to his power. 

The old-time school-book authors often attained a 
good deal of picturesqueness in the selections that 
went into their volumes, and some of these authors 
were hardly less picturesque in the arguments and 
opinions they addressed to the public in their pref- 
aces. Here is the way Joshua Bradley appeals for 
the acceptance of his " lessons in spellings " which 
he compiled in a square little volume of sixty-four 
pages, published at Windsor, Vermont, in 18 15. 

The author was led to lay this small work before the 
publick, for the benefit of beginners ; who are apt to wear 

p 



2IO 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



out a large book, without gaining any more knowledge than 
they would from one of this description. 

Should parents, instructors and the benevolent encourage 
the introduction and continuance of this little work among 
children, they may be instrumental in guiding millions to 
a true knowledge of the rudiments of our language and 
receive their reward at the resurrection of the just. 

To such patrons of learning the author wishes to tender 
his unfeigned thanks and to subscribe himself their sincere 
and affectionate friend. 




The Wolf accuses the Lamb of Muddying the Water. 
From Perry's Only Sure Guide, 1818. 



An equally quotable preface is found in the Ana- 
lytical Spelling Book by John Franklin Jones, New 
York, 1823. The compiler says of the reading mat- 
ter in his book that — 

Something was wanted, in American schools to replace 
the lessons, which have been copied from book to book, 
since the reign of Queen Anne. It is the intention, in the 



Other Spellers 211 

present work to advance principles suited to the rising 
generation, in the United States. Beast, reptiles and 
insects are not represented in this volume, as the equals of 
rational beings ; because such a supposition is repugnant to 
nature, science, and correct moral sentiment. Most of the 
fables so long employed in schools, are particularly im- 
proper for small children, who should be taught by literal 
examples, before they can comprehend figures of rhetoric 
or draw inferences from remote hints. The fancy of con- 
verting inferior animals into '■'•teachers of children ," has been 
carried to ridiculous extravagance. 

Thus he throws iEsop overboard. Here is a les- 
son to show what Mr. Jones could do in the way 
of " penning readings " : — 

Keep clear of the boy that tells lies, for he is a bad 
boy. 

O how I like to read my book, and be a good child, and 
mind what my pa and ma tell me ! 

Let the best child in school have a good ripe red peach, 
and five blue plums, and ten grapes, and a nice new 
book. 

Pinks smell sweet. 
Good girls are neat. 
A leech sucks blood. 
Ducks play in mud. 

The great feature of the speller is the " Story of 
Jack Halyard," which fills thirty closely printed 
pages. Jack lived on a New Jersey farm. He was 
nine years of age, and had an older brother Charles 
and two younger sisters Mary and Betsey. His 
father was "very honest," and his mother — 



212 Old-time Schools and School-books 

was a woman of engaging manners, and unblemished char- 
acter. Jack's teacher, Mr. Clement, was very fond of him, 
and used to call him little General Washington, because he 
acted with so much honor and manliness. Jack scorned 
the vile mischief that low bred fellows sometimes practice, 
and which they seem to think very cunning. 

If he saw a silly fellow skulk behind a bench, or behind 
another boy, to do some sly trick, while the teacher was 
looking the other way, he would say, when they went out, 
that bad scholars took more pains to be dunces than would 
be needed to become men of talents. 

Jack's little sisters were charming girls, very fond of 
learning ; and,, when he came home, he would find pretty 
stories for Mary to read, and teach Betsey in her a b abs. 
He always treated his mother and sisters with great atten- 
tion, and was very polite to other ladies of his acquaintance. 

The story goes on to say that "Jack's conduct 
began to attract notice in the town where he lived." 
Major Wilson, " a gentleman of distinction," whose 
house was about four miles distant from Mr. Hal- 
yard's, had a ten-year-old son, named Peter, " and 
Peter was inclined to be idle and childish." When 
other boys were sliding and skating, Peter would sit 
moping indoors. One day the lads were asking 
among themselves where Peter was, and Solomon 
Belmot said, " Oh, he is sitting in the corner to keep 
the cat from eating the tongs. That is all he is good 
for ; the ninny is too lazy even to play." 

Major Wilson was mortified, at having such a shameful 
lubber of a son. He thought of Jack Halyard, and con- 
cluded the best thing he could do, would be to get so smart 
a boy to come and live a while with his son. 



Other Spellers 213 

Jack's father agreed, and during the five weeks 
Jack stayed, " Peter was so altered, he hardly appeared 
to be the same boy." Among other things Jack 
cured his companion of timidity. It is told that — 

One day as they were in a pasture together, Peter was 
scared almost to death, at the sight of a rattle snake. He 
ran and screamed, as if the terrible creature was going to 
swallow him alive; but Jack like a hero, without being at 
all afraid, got a good stick and killed the snake. " These 
animals," said Jack, "are like tattling, mischief making 
people : they are very poison ; but dangerous only when 
they creep in secret, and bite before they are seen." 

Jack talked much and very sensible with Peter, and 
Major Wilson was so much pleased with the change in his 
son, that he said Jack Halyard was worth five times his 
weight in gold, and he made him a present of a likely colt. 
" My good little friend," said the major to Jack, and he 
almost shed tears while he said it, " the great happiness of 
parents is in seeing their children do well. If Peter should 
ever make an honorable man, it will be in part owing to 
what you have done for him. Take this colt. I hope, 
my dear fellow, you may live to ride him to congress." 

Jack led him home and felt as rich as King Cre-sus. 
The colt was all over as black as a mink ; but the hired man 
was a queer fellow, and he named this black colt Snoiv-ball. 

The best people in this world are not perfect ; and Jack, 
though so excellent a boy, committed some great errors. 
The first disgraceful thing he did, was when he was about 
five years old. He got to a bottle of rum, very slily, and 
tasted a little ; at first it made his mouth smart, and his 
nose tingle. He soon got over this, and thought it would 
be a pretty notion to take another dram : but he found that 
this was very poor business. Several children have killed 
themselves by drinking ardent spirits in this way. Jack 



214 Old-time Schools and School-books 



was not dead drunk, but tipsey. He staggered off like a 
crazy fellow, nearly half a mile from the house ; said some 
most ridiculous, vulgar, silly things ; and was saucy to an 
old man. He even abused his mother after he had been 




The Smart Boy, leading home his 
Black Colt Snowball. 

From Jones's Analytical Spelling-book, 1823. 

carried sick, to the house, and put on the truckle bed ; but 
at last he grew stupid and went to sleep. 

Mr. Halyard, the next day, called his tippling son, and 
asked him what he had been about. Jack was still weak, 
and so much ashamed, that he hardly dared to look his 



Other Spellers 215 

father in the face. He clasped his arm around his pa's leg, 
and hung down his head. But though this little boy had 
done wrong he despised a falsehood. He told the facts as 
nigh as he could remember, without any quibbling. Jack's 
father was so glad to find him honest in owning his fault 
that he did not say a harsh word. 

Jack had turns of the colic, especially, if he eat unripe 
fruit; but he bore these things like a young philosopher, 
and felt above the silly whining, that is sometimes heard 
among children. The whooping cough, he passed lightly 
through, and considered it hardly worth minding; but he 
found the measles much more serious, and at one time 
rather forgetting himself was somewhat peevish. 

The narrative continues to tell of Jack's clever- 
ness and the increasing honors he won through five 
chapters. " But there is no lasting happiness here 
below," it says, and the final pages record that Mr. 
Halyard had his best horse stolen and that he was to 
an expense of "above sixty dollars in chacing the thief, 
and getting back the horse." Soon afterward a flood 
drowned five of his cattle and a number of his sheep, 
his crops were much damaged, and he himself was 
" taken extremely sick with a bilious fever " and died. 
His dying precepts fittingly close the story. 

One would fancy there could not be another 
youth with the perfections of Jack Halyard; yet 
that this impression is a mistake is shown by the 
tale below, which is also taken from Jones's speller. 

THE LITTLE SAWYER, FRANK LUCAS. 

Mrs. Corbon kept a village school in the state of New- 
York. She had a noble mind and was a friend to all good 



2i6 Old-time Schools and School-books 

children. One cold morning in the winter, a small boy 
came along, with a saw on his arm, and wanted this lady to 
hire him to saw wood. She said, one of her neighbors 
would like to saw the wood and she did not wish to hire 
any body else. " O dear," said the boy, "what shall I do ? 
My father is blind, mother is sick, and I left my sister cry- 
ing at home, for fear poor ma will die. I take care of them, 
as well as I can, but they have nothing to eat." Mrs. 
Corbon had never seen this lad before; but she perceived 
he was a boy of uncommon goodness. He shivered very 
much with the cold ; for he was but thinly drest, and his 
ear locks were white with frost. The lady asked him to 
come in and warm himself. Are you not hungry, said 
Mrs. Corbon? Not much ma'am. I had some potatoe 
for dinner yesterday. Did you not have supper last night? 
No ma'am. Nor breakfast, this morning? "Not yet: 
but no matter : I shall get some by and by. If I try to do 
well, God will protect me : for so my precious mother says. 
I believe she is the best woman in the world. If I did not 
think she was, I would not say so." " You are a brave 
lad," said the lady. " I will be your friend, if you have 
not another on earth ; " and the tears sparkled in her eyes 
as she gave him a biscuit with a piece of meat, on a small 
plate. Thank you, ma'am, said Frank; if you please, I 
will keep them to carry home. Don't you think, ma'am, 
that any body will hire me to saw wood ? Yes, my dear 
little fellow, she answered, I will give you money to saw 
mine. He thanked her again, and ran to the wood pile to 
begin his work. The lady put on her cloak and went out 
among her neighbors. She told them Frank was one of the 
best boys she had ever seen, and hoped they would do some- 
thing to help the little fellow provide for the family. So 
they came to her house, where he was, and one gave him 
a six cent piece, another a shilling, and a third twenty-five 
cents, till they made up nearly three dollars. They pre- 



Other Spellers 



217 



sented him a loaf of bread, part of a cheese, some meat 
and cake, a jug of milk, and some apples ; with a snug 
basket to put them all in : so that he had as much as he 
could carry. He told them he was very much obliged ; but 
he chose to work and pay for what he had if they would 




The Little Sawyer. 

From Jones's Analytical Spelling Book. 



let him. They said he might see to that another time. 
We are going, said Mrs. Corbon, to send the things to your 
mother. Frank hurried back, tugging his load, and the 
whole family cried for joy. Bless your dear heart, said his 
poor blind father ; come here and let me get hold of you. 



2i 8 Old-time Schools and School-books 

My dear wife, a blessing has come upon us all for the sake 
of our dutiful child. He is one of nature's noblemen. 
The good man raised his hands in prayer, and thanked the 
Creator of the world for giving him so hopeful a son. 

It is thirty years since this affair happened, and the same 
Frank Lucas is now a judge, and one of the first men in 
the county where he lives. His father is at rest. Twenty 
summers, the bell-flower has bloomed, on his peaceful grave. 
His mother has grown very old and feeble. She still lives 
with her son. Judge Lucas is married to a charming lady, 
and has five children. They go to school ; and their father 
tells them they must love God ; honor their parents and 
teachers, and be kind to all ; and that the way for a poor 
little boy to become a great and happy man, is, to be honest, 
industrious and good. 

A poem from Picket's Juvenile Spelling-book, New 
York, 1823. 

The Lamb. 

A tear bedews my Delia's eye, 

To think yon playful lamb must die : 

From crystal spring and flow'ry mead 

Must in his prime of life recede ; 

Erewhile in sportive circle, round 

She saw him wheel, and frisk and bound ; 

From rock to rock pursue his way, 

And on the fearful margin play. 

She tells with what delight he stood 

To trace his features in the flood ; 

Then skipp'd aloof with quaint amaze ; 

And then drew near again to gaze. 

She tells me how with eager speed 

He flew to hear my vocal reed ; 



Other Spellers 



2H 



And how with critic face profound, 
And steadfast ear, devour'd the sound. 
His every frolic light as air, 
Deserves the gentle Delia's care ; 
And tears bedew my Delia's eye, 
To think yon playful lamb must die. 




The Danger of Temptation. 
THE silly fish, while playing in the brook, 
Hath gorg'd and swallow'd the destructive hook; 
In vain he flounces on the quiv'ring hair, 
Drawn panting forth to breathe the uppefair ; 
Caught by his folly in the glitt'ring bait, 
He meets his ruin and submits to fate. 

Moral. 
Avoid base bribes : the tempting lure'display'd, 
If once you seize, you perish self- betray 'd. 
Be slow to take when strangers haste to give, 
Lest of your ruin you the price receive. 

A Poetical Fable. 
From Picket's Juvenile Spelling-book, 1823. 




220 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Owl. Bolles's Spelling-book, New 

London, 1831, is given an odd 

individuality by the fact that 

" each page is embellished by 

select proverbs and maxims." 

These bits of wisdom are printed 

in small type on the borders of 

Owls eat mice, the pages, one at the top, one at 

and live in the the bottom, and one on each side. 

woods. There is a comparatively large 

a Fragment from The Ne W amount D f other reading matter, 

York Spelling-book. 1823. . => r-~, 

and frequent illustrations. 1 he 
longest story in the book is about — 

ALMIRA AND JANE. 

Almira was a very thoughtful girl ; she took delight in 
viewing the beauties of nature ; and for this purpose, often 
took a walk near the close of the day. 

On her return, one evening she was accosted by Jane, 
who, though younger than herself, was always pleased with 
Almira's company, and requested the pleasure of walking 
with her the next day. 

Jane informed her mother of what had passed ; and made 
request, that she and her little brother, might join Almira in 
her ramble. 

Her Mamma was very willing, and said, as she was about 
to go; Do not forget, my child that it is God, who permits 
you to enjoy so many pleasures. 

By this time Almira had arrived and Jane and George 
were ready to go with her. 

Almira and Jane soon began to converse, and little George 
listened with attention. 

How pleasant it is, said Jane, to see the earth decked so 



Other Spellers 221 

gaily ; the grass so fresh and green, and do see the little 
lambs yonder ! 

Al. O yes ; emblems of innocence ; how sweetly they 
plav ; the musick of the birds also affords me much pleasure. 
Indeed I sometimes rise very early to hear them ; but I do 
not say right, I rise because their sweet notes seem to say ; 
Awake, and give thanks too. The same God that made 
them, and teaches them to sing, made us, and takes care 
of us. 

Ja. And bestows on us many blessings which they 
never knew. 

Geo. But how can you sav so ; sister ? I think the 
birds are very happy, and sometimes wish, that, like them, 
I could skip from bough to bough. 

Ja. Why, George, they know very little ; they were 
never taught to read, as we have been. 

Al. Nor did they ever hear of heaven ; but we, if we 
love the Lord, and obey him, may hope to be happy here, 
and happy in the world to come. 

Geo. Now I see the folly of my wishes ; I think I 
shall never, again, desire to be a bird ; I would much rather 
learn to read, and become wise. 

Ja. Have we not yet arrived at the extent of your 
walk ; Almira ? 

Al. Yes ; on the banks of this little rivulet I admire 
to sit among the shrubs, or under the shade of some of the 
willows. 

Ja. George, I believe, is delighted by looking into the 
the brook; what do you see, George? 

Geo. Some frogs, and a great many little fishes. But 
they are so shv, and nimble, that, before I can touch them 
they dart away. 

As thev walked along the side of the stream Jane began 
to be very pensive : 

I have been thinking, said she, that the God who made, 



222 Old-time Schools and School-books 

and takes care of all these things, must be very great, and 
very good. 

Al. He is so, indeed ; he is worthy of all our praise. 

"Ja. If he makes this earth so pleasant, what must 
heaven be ? 

Al. What does the word of God say ? Eye hath not 
seen ; neither has it entered into the heart of man, to con- 
ceive the glory, that shall be revealed in that world. O 
may we meet in heaven ; we shall then be happy indeed. 

The evening drew on, and they returned home ; little 
George being so well pleased, that he related the whole 
story to his papa. 

The several lessons following the above are phi- 
losophies on life and nature that in manner of ex- 
pression are reminiscent of the Psalms in the Bible. 
I quote one of them : — 

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business 
in the great waters ; these see the work of the Lord, and 
his wonders in the deep. 

For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which 
lifteth up the waves thereof. 

They mount up to the heaven ; they go down again to 
the depths ; their soul is melted because of trouble. 

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, 
and are at their wits' end. 

Then they cry unto the Lord and he bringeth them out 
of their distress. 

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves are still. 

Then are they glad because they be quiet : so he bring- 
eth them to their desired haven. 

Here is a sample of the verse contained in the 
book : — 



Other Spellers 223 

THE ORPHAN. 

My father and mother are dead, 

No friend or relation I have ; 
And now the cold earth is their bed, 

And daisies grow over their grave. 

I cast my eyes into the tomb 

The sight made me bitterly cry ; 

I said, and is this the dark room, 

Where my father and mother must lie ? 

I cast my eyes round me again, 
In hopes some protector to see ; 

Alas ! but the search was in vain, 
For none had compassion on me. 

I cast my eyes up to the sky, 

I groan'd, though 1 said not a word ; 

Yet God was not deaf to my cry ; 
The friend of the fatherless heard. 

O yes — and he graciously smil'd 

And bid me on him to depend ; 
He whisper'd — " Fear not, little child, 

For I am thy father and friend." 

One lesson of an unusual sort was three pages 
of information on various subjects under the title 
" Common Things," and I reprint several para- 
graphs. 

The rainbow is formed by the reflection and decomposi- 
tion of the sun's rays on the drops of falling water. 

Electricity is a subtle fluid which pervades most bodies 
and is capable by certain operations, of being accumulated 
in certain substances to a greater or less degree. 



224 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Ignis Fatuus is a light supposed to be of a phosphorick 
nature, frequently seen in mines, marshy places, and stag- 
nant water ; from its resemblance to a candle in a lantern 
it has been vulgarly called, Jack with a lantern, or Will 
with a wisp. People have sometimes been misled by fol- 
lowing these lights. 

Man and Horse* Mad Bull. 




A Horse drinking. Boy in danger. 

Children should be careful not to 
provoke a bull, or get over into the 
field where one is. Alas ! for that lit- 
tle boy that is running with all his 
miffht : see his hat flying behind him, 
ana the mad bull close at his heels. 

Part of a Page. 

From The New York Spelling-book. 

The two short reading lessons below are from 
The Young Tyro s Instructer, "comprising all that is 
really useful in a spelling-book to instruct a child 
in his native tongue." New York, 1834. 

A pig can eat a fig. 
A cat can eat a rat. 
A fly sat on a pie. 
A bee sat on a pea. 



Other Spellers 



225 



Boys must learn to spell, read, and write, 
And try to learn with all their might ; 
Then they will be wise, good, and great, 
And, in due time, may serve the state. 



Ram and 
Dam. 




Has the dam a lamb? 
What is a dam ? 
What is a Iamb? 
Ann can catch the 
lamb by the ham. 



cram cramp 

dram damp 

ham camp 

sham scamp 

slam Iambs 




Nag 

and 

Bags. 



A nag and some bags. 
Jack, holds the nag. 
It is a black nag. 
See the rags on Jack's 
back. 



snag 

bag 

brag 

rag 

rag-ged 

cags 



hag 

shag 

Jack 

tack 

tact 

act 



A Page. 

From Parsons' s Analytical Spelling Book, 1836. 

Parsons's Analytical Spelling Book, Portland, Maine, 
1836, was decidedly more attractive in its makeup 

Q 



226 Old-time Schools and School-books 

than most books of the period. It had a good deal 
of variety and sparkle, and the author in enumer- 
ating its virtues in his preface says that with it 
" Parents who have little skill in teaching can learn 
their children to read, where there are no schools, 
and adults with little assistance can learn by them- 
selves." He does not begin the lessons with the 
alphabet as was usual in books of this sort. Instead, 
he requires the pupils " to learn letters only to make 
out definite words." The lessons start with a pic- 
ture of a rat, and the author directs the teacher to 
" gather all the a, b, c, and a, b, ab scholars round 
him, and ask them, * What is the first picture?' 
'A rat,' say they. 'Well, here is his name under 
him. You are now to learn to read his name.' " 
Then they were drilled to recognize the three letters 
that formed the word. 

On looking along through the book it is notice- 
able that the statements and questions in the lessons 
are often trivial and irrelevant, and 
the happy-go-lucky way in which 
several subjects are introduced and 
mixed up in the same lesson must 
have proved rather confusing to the 
youthful mind. For instance, this 
picture of a melancholy-looking mule 
is accompanied by the remarks that — 

Mules are good to pull. 
Mules are mute. 
They make no noise. 
Use the mule well. 




Other Spellers 



227 




A-buse no man. 
Give to all their due. 

At the end it is uncertain whether the mule is a 
man, or the man mentioned is a mule. 

Of the next picture we are told "The 
pail has a wire bail," though it is per- 
fectly plain that the bail is wooden. 

Here are several consecutive sen- 
tences under a picture of a hen. 
They seem to have some occult but 
not easily perceived connection. A Pail. 

Hens lay eggs 
Sev-en eggs to a keg 
Sev-en hens to a keg 
Sev-en eggs to a hen 

On page 9 is a picture of a girl with 

what looks like a flower in her hand ; 

yet the text reads, " Ann and her fan," 

and it also asks, " Has Ann an ap-ple ? " 

The same picture reappears on page 1 7 ; 

a Girl. but meanwhile the girl has changed her 

name and the text says, " Let Jane tell 

her tale," and states that " Jane has a cape on her 

neck." 

Then here is a picture from a little farther along 
in the book with the following sentences beneath it: 

A toad in the grass. 
Toads can hop far. 
See his long hind legs. 




228 Old-time Schools and School-books 



Can he swell as large as a goat ? 

How many toads would load a cart ? 

Grass is mown with a scythe when it is grown. 

Pa groans with a pain in his arm. 

Is it not perfectly plain that the " toad " in the 
picture is a frog? What 
is the sense of asking if 
he can swell as large as 
a goat, or how many 
would fill a cart ? — as if 
toads were in the habit 
of swelling monstrously 
and of being loaded into 
carts ; and what is the 
matter with Pa ? Has 
he been mowing, or 

has he been loading toads, or what does cause his 

pain ? 

Turn a few more pages and we find a lesson that 

sounds as if it were intended for humor. I give 

several extracts : — 




A Toad. 
From Parsons's Analytical Spelling Book. 



A smith can steel an axe by welding a strip of steel on 
the edge. The Bible says, " Thou shalt not steal." 
You could be kind if you would. 
Chairs are made of wood. 
A dog will scent a fox. 
James is sent away for laughing. 
Girls vail their faces in the sun. 
Brooks run through vales. 
Hear the horse neigh. 
One who lives near, is a neigh-bor. 
Boys need dinner ; girls knead dough. 



Other Spellers 229 

The book conveys information about punctuation 
as follows : — 

You see a little round dot, once in a while as you read. 
It means that you should let your voice fall, as if you were 
done read-ing, and stop while you could say, one, two, 
three, four. Thus : — 

" Lot is dead. 0ne tw0 three four - He died last night. 
One two three four. His mother, one his old mother is sick." 
This little dot is called a pe-ri-od. 



Large, larger, largest, 

The top is large. The bell is larger. The, 
oxjs largest. 

A Comparison. 
From Parsons's Analytical Spelling Book. 

The use of emphasis is explained with similar 
lucidity. 

Suppose you wished to call your brother at a distance, 
and he should not hear you at first would you not repeat 
it in this way : — 

JOSEPH ! ! ! 
Joseph ! ! 
Joseph ! 

growing louder every time ? That is called raising the 
key. 



230 Old-time Schools and School-books 



Again, suppose you wished to ask your pa, if you may 
go a fishing with Jacob ; and you are afraid he does not 
hear. You would ask this way : — 




Occasionally at the end of a lesson which has not 
quite filled out the page the space is utilized for bits 
of advice and wisdom such as — 

See that haggard, bloated, red-faced, hopeless looking 
drunkard, holding upon the fence ! He began by drinking 
a little, and never meant to take too much. If you would 
not be a drunkard, never taste any thing that can make 
drunk. 

"Swear not at all." It is vulgar — it is degrading — it 
is profane to swear. 



114 



KEEP YOUR TEETH SOUND. 



anatomy 

anatomist 

anatomical 

drug 

druggist 

apothecary 



renovate 

renovating 

renovated 

invigorate 

invigorated 

animate 



233 



accuse 
accusing 
accused 
accusation 



Part of a Page. 
From Spelling and Thinking, 1841. 
At the top of each page was a maxii 



One of the most peculiar of the old spellers was 
Exercises in Orthography, a Providence publication 



Other Spellers I31 

dated 1826. The title-page says that the book is 
11 designed to assist young persons to spell with 
accuracy and effect," though from the look of the 
lessons you would think the whole thing was con- 
trived for a joke. The spelling is in fact as bad as 
ingenuity can make it, and yet the volume is intended 
seriously and this crazy spelling is supposed to stimu- 
late the pupil's interest. The preface advises that 
" The scholar should always be provided with a 
dictionary, and in order to rectify the false orthog- 
raphy the teacher should require him to copy with 
care each paragraph of this work ; it is then pre- 
sumed very considerable advantage will be found in 
the use of this compilation." Below are character- 
istic extracts : — 

Nolledge is the best foundashun ov happines. Its kulte- 
vashun in yuth promotes vertshu, bi kreating habits ov 
menttal disseplin ; and bi inkulkating a sense ov morral 
oblegashun. 

Menny nashuns liv nakid in kavurns undur ground, pur- 
form no labur, and depend for thare subsistens on the 
spontaneus produkts ov the erth, and on the flesh ov ani- 
mals, witsh tha destroy bi simpel strattajems. 

The arts ov savvidje life inklude the arts ov swimming, 
hunting, taking ame with missil weppons, and prokuring 
fire. 

The art ov swimming depends furst in keeping the arms 
and hands undur watur ; in protruding only the fase and 
part ov the hed out ov the water; and then uzing sutsh 
akshun, as wil derekt the boddy in enny partikulur korse. 

Hunting is performed bi most savvidge nashuns on fut, 
and with menny ov them the prinsepal weppon is the klub. 
Therefore the swiftest and strongest uzhualy bekum tsheefs. 



232 Old-time Schools and School-books 

In taking ame with missel weppons, the presizhun witsh 
savvidje nashuns have attaned is wondurful. In throing a 
stone, tha seldum mis the smalest mark j tha transfiks fish 
in the watur; nok down burds on the wing; and strike 
evury enemy with unerring egzaktnes. 

Among savvidjes, the uzhual mode ov produsing fire is 
bi the rapid frikshun ov too peeses ov wood til tha produse 
flames. Having no mettels, tha do not pozzes the simpel 
methud ov kommunikating a spark to tinder, bi the violent 
kollizhun ov flint and steal. 

In 1843 a similarly strange educational scheme 
was perpetrated under the title Companion to Spelling- 
books. A single specimen of the more than three 
hundred lessons in the book will suffice. 

I have seen thy wonderous mite, 
Thro' the shaddows of the night ; 
Thou who slumb'rest not nor sleapest, 
Blessed are they Thou kindly keepest ! 
Thine the flaming sphear of light, 
Thine the darkness of the night, 
Thine are all the gemms of ev'n 
God of angels ! God of Heav'n ! 
God of life, that fade shall never ! 
Glory to thy name fore ever ! 

Such a medley of mistakes would soon confuse 
even a good speller, and the plan is worse than use- 
less unless one wants to acquire the orthography of 
a Josh Billings or an Artemus Ward. 



IX 



PRIMARY READERS 



THE first period of American school-book 
authorship was characterized by erratic efforts 
and random shots in many directions. It 
did not become the general custom to put forth 
books in nicely graded series until well toward the 
middle of the nineteenth century, and in consequence 
many isolated spellers, primers, and readers were 
published and used for a brief period within a limited 
area. Readers of any sort for beginners were very 
few previous to 1825. So far as I am aware the 
first was The Franklin Primer ; published in 1802, 
"containing a new and ufeful felection of Moral 
Leffons adorned with a great variety of elegant cuts 
calculated to ftrike a lafting impreffion on the Ten- 
der Minds of Children." The elegant cuts were a 
frontispiece portrait of Benjamin Franklin and about 
a dozen text illustrations of Bible scenes. 

The book in size and general appearance had very 
much the look of a New England Primer. Indeed, 
the introduction says it was intended "as a fubfti- 
tute for the old Primer which has of late become 
almoft obfolete." The most important portions 
of the volume were "a variety of tables, moral lef- 
fons and fentences, a concife hiftory of the World, 
2 33 



234 Old-time Schools and School-books 

appropriate Hymns, and Dr. Watts, and the Af- 
fembly of Divines' Catechifms." The history of 
the world was entirely Biblical, and began with the 

THE FRANKLIN PRINTER. 




MOSES killing the Egyptian. 

From The Franklin Primer, 1802. 

creation and ended with Christ's resurrection. For 
an example of the miscellany in the book I quote 
a poem entitled : — 



Primary Readers 235 

LeJJons in Verfe. 

WHEN the Sun doth rife you muft go up each day, 
And fell on your knees, and to God humbly pray : 
Then kneel to your parents, their bleffing implore, 
And when you have money, give fome to the poor. 
Your hands and your face, in the next place wafh fair, 
And brufh your apparel and comb out your hair. 

Then wifh a good morning to all in your view, 
And bow to your parents, and bid them adieu ; 
Salute every perfon as to fchool you go ; 
When at fchool, to your mafter due reverence fhow. 
And if you can't read, pray endeavour to fpell, 
For by frequently fpelling you'll learn to read well. 

Shun all idle boys, and the wicked and rude ; 
And pray, only play with thofe boys who are good. 
To church you muft every Sunday repair, 
And behave yourfelf decently while you are there. 
At the clofe of the day, ere you go to your reft, 
Kneel again to your parents, and be again bleft : 
And to the Almighty again humbly pray, 
That he may preferve you by night and by day. 

The next book of this class was The Child's In- 
structor, Philadelphia, 1808. A peculiar typo- 
graphical feature is the use of the long j- in some 
parts of the book, and the short s in others. Most 
printers had discarded the former altogether by this 
time. In Chapter I are the alphabet, some columns 
of three and four letter words, and a number of short 
sentences, of which the first is — 

A bird that can sing, and will 
not sing, must be made to sing. 



236 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Chapter II starts thus : — 

1. Now George, you know all the letters. 
Now you must learn to spell and read. 
A good boy will sit and mind his books. 

2. Knife, fork, spoon, plate, dish, cup, bowl, mug, jug, 
pot, pan, tub, chair, ta-ble, bed, box, fire, wood, shov-el, 
tongs, bel-lows. 

3. What is your name ? My name is George. How 
old are you ? Four years old. Do you go to school ? 
Yes, sir. Can you spell ? Yes, sir, a little. 

4. Bread, but-ter, cheese, meat, pud-ding, pye, cake, 
beef, pork, veal, soup, salt, pep-per, su-gar, ho-ney, jel-ly, 
car-rot. 

This alternation of spelling and reading paragraphs 
is soon abandoned, and the spelling words are con- 
fined to a paragraph at the end of each lesson. 
Perhaps the most noticeable thing in the lessons is 
the constant reiteration of the idea that it is profit- 
able both spiritually and materially to be good. 

All dutiful children who do as they're bid, 

Shall be lov'd, and applauded, and never be chid ; 

And their friends, and their fame, and their wealth fhall 

increafe, 
Till they're crown'd with the bleffings of plenty and peace. 

Frank is a good boy ; he loves his school, and learns to 
read. He can spell hard words and is head of the class. 
Frank shall have a new hat, and new shoes, and go to the 
fair. 

Good boys and girls go to church. Did you go to 



Primary Readers 237 

church ? Billy went to church, and so did Betsey. The 
church is the house of God ; and God loves little children 
when they go to church. 

When you go to church you must sit still, and hear what 
the preacher tells you; he tells you to be good children and 
love your parents, and then God will bless you. 

Do you know who makes it rain ? I will tell you : God 
makes it rain. Do you see that dark cloud rising in the 
west ? That cloud will bring thunder and lightning and 
rain. You need not be afraid ; God makes it thunder ; and 
he will not let it hurt you if you are good. 

The following are some of the longer lessons in 
the latter part of the book. The unmitigated black- 
ness of the lad's character portrayed in the first of 
these is quite impressive. 

Defcription of a BAD BOY. 

A bad Boy is undutiful to his father and mother, difobe- 
dient and ftubborn to his mafter, and ill-natured to all his 
play-fellows. He hates his book, and takes no pleafure in 
improving himfelf in any thing. He is fleepy and flothful 
in the morning, too idle to clean himfelf, and too wicked 
to fay his prayers. 

He is always in mifchief, and when he has done a fault, 
will tell twenty lies in hopes to clear himself. He hates 
that any body fhould give him good advice, and when they 
are out of fight, will laugh at them. He fwears and wran- 
gles, and quarrels with his companions, and is always in 
fome difpute or other. 

He will fteal whatfoever comes in his way ; and if he is 



238 Old-time Schools and School-books 

not catched, thinks it no crime, not confidering that God 
fees whatfoever he does. He is frequently out of humour, 
and fullen and obftinate, fo that he will neither do what he 
is bid, nor anfwer any queftion that is afked him. 

In fhort, he neglects every thing that he fhould learn, 
and minds nothing but play and mifchief ; by which means 
he becomes as he grows up a confirmed blockhead, incapa- 
ble of any thing but wickednefs or folly, defpifed by all men 
of fenfe and virtue, and generally dies a beggar. 

He that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord. 

There was a poor man who was charitable to excefs ; 
for he gave away all that he had to relieve the neceffities 
of others ; chufing rather to throw himfelf upon Provi- 
dence, than to deny an alms to any one who afked him, fo 
long as he had any thing to beftow. 

Being at length, by his conftant liberalities, reduced to a 
very indigent condition, he was forced to betake himfelf to 
digging for a livelihood. Yet notwithftanding he gained his 
own bread by hard labour, he ceafed not to fhew his wonted 
kindneffes to the poor; giving them whatever he could pof- 
fibly fpare from his own neceffities. 

One day as he was digging in the field, he found feveral 
earthen pots of gold, fupposed to be buried there in the 
time of the wars. The good man carried this huge treas- 
ure home to his houfe, with all imaginable privacy. 

And having diftributed the greateft part of it in charity, 
he was going with the laft referve to the houfe of a diftreffed 
widow, to whom he gave a fuflicient fum to relieve her 
wants, being all he had left : When as he was returning 
home he found a jewel in the high-way, which being fold, 
yielded him ten thoufand crowns. 

This was a noble bank for new liberalities, and a con- 
vincing argument, that there was fomething more than mere 



Primary Readers 239 

chance which thus ftrangely recruited his purfe ; that it 
might not lack fomething to give to the poor. 

Bleft is the man whofe bowels move, 
And melt with pity to the poor ; 
Whofe foul with fympathizing love, 
Feels what his fellow faints endure. 
His heart contrives for their relief, 
More good than his own hands can do : 
He in the time of general grief, 
Shall find the Lord hath bowels too. 



A book very like the one I have been describ- 
ing, both in title and text, was the Child's Instructer 
and Moral Primer, published at Portland, Maine, 
in 1822. The stories in it have to do mostly 
with such children as Timothy Trusty, who "is 
very desirous to learn " ; Patty Primp, whose 
notion is that " to be a lady one must be idle, care- 
less, proud, scorn inferiors, calumniate the absent, 
read novels, play at cards, and excel in fine dress " ; 
John Pugg, whose "face and hands you would 
think were not washed once in a fortnight " ; and 
Tom Nummy, who " hates his book as bad as the 
rod." Some of the other suggestively named char- 
acters are Tim Delicate, Charles Mindful, Caroline 
Modesty, Susy Pertinence, Cynthia Spindle, and 
Jack Fisty-Cuff. Except for Cynthia, you know 
what to expect of each without further details. 

To indicate how scarce elementary readers were 
in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, I 
quote from the preface to Leavitt's Easy Lessons in 
Reading, Keene, New Hampshire, 1823 : — ■ 



240 Old-time Schools and School-books 




Eager Students. 

A title-page vignette in Leavitt's Easy 
Lessons, 1 847. 



The compiler has been excited to the present under- 
taking by representations that there is no reading book to 
be found at the bookstores, suitable for young children, to 
be used intermediately, between the Spelling-Book and the 

z ~. ._ _^^- .^-^ English or American Reader. 

The Testament is much 
used for this purpose ; and, 
on many accounts, it is ad- 
mirably adapted for a read- 
ing book in schools. But it 
is respectfully submitted to 
the experience of judicious 
teachers, whether the pe- 
culiar structure of scripture 
language is not calculated 
to create a tone ? I am persuaded it would be better to 
place a book in the hands of learners, written in a more 
familiar style. Such a work, I flatter myself, will be found 
in the following pages. The selections contain many 
salutary precepts and instructive examples, for a life of 
piety and morality, of activity and usefulness. 

Mr. Leavitt later supplemented his Easy Lessons 
with a Second Part. In this the most noteworthy 
portion was a series of sentences to illustrate the 
sounds of the letters. The chaotic paragraphs 
which follow are fair samples: — 

The baboon blabbed and blubbered, dabbled in ribbons, 
gabbled in gibberish, played hob-nob with a robin, brow- 
beat the tabby, made a hubbub for the rabble, bribed a na- 
bob, and barbarously bamboozled a booby. 

Our daddy did a deed, at dawn of day, that doubled the 
depredations of the dogged ducks and drakes, deceived the 
doubting dunce, addled the dandy paddy, and drove the sad- 
dled and bridled dog down the downward road. 



Primary Readers 24 1 

A giddy, giggling girl gave a noggin of gruel to a big 
beggar with green glass goggles, going out of a greasy 
groggery. 

Nathan Noonan knows his nose ; no man knows I know 
he knows his nose ; his nose knows he knows his nose. 

An alliteration with a somewhat different purpose 
is the one below. It was designed as an exercise to 
teach the pupils to " avoid the vulgar error of clip- 
ping off the final g." 

I am thinking of going to singing meeting, this evening, 
in hope of hearing the bells ringing, and of seeing ranks 
of smiling, loving, languishing lasses. 

Then here is a group of sentences that seem to 
have suffered an earthquake shock, but they simply 
show the appropriate use of the rising and falling 
inflection. 

^vi°*> 6 ****** i?**r 

Sentences illustrating Inflection. 
From Leavitt's Easy Lessons, 1 847. 

A poem from The Fourth Class Book, Brookfield, 
Massachusetts, 1827. 

LITTLE CHARLES 

Well, Charles is highly pleased to day, 
I gave him leave to go and play 



l\n Old-time Schools and School-books 

Upon the green, with bat and ball ; 

And when he heard his playmates call, 

Away he sprung across the plain, 

To join the little merry train, 

But here he comes — why, what means this ? 

I wonder what has gone amiss, — 

Why, Charles, how came you back so soon ? 

I gave you leave to stay till noon. 

I know it, sir, and I intended 

To play till every game was ended ; 

But, to say truth, I could not bear 

To hear those little fellows swear — 

They cursed so bold and fearlessly 

That the cold chills ran over me — 

For I was seized with awful dread 

That some of them would drop down dead — 

And so I turned and came away, 

For, Pa, I was afraid to stay ! 

An attractive little book published in 1830 was 
The Clinton Primer. It was named after De Witt 
Clinton, whose portrait appeared on its paper cover. 
Illustrations were used freely, and the body of the 
book was made up of reading at the top of the pages, 
spelling columns in the middle, and arithmetic at 
the bottom. I reprint some rather naive fragments 
from the earlier lessons, and two of the longer lessons 
complete. 

It is a mule. I see a mule ; do you ? 
He has a flute; let him play on his flute. 

Ripe pears are good for boys and girls, but it is a sin to 
eat too many of them. They often cause sickness. 



Primary Readers 



243 



Who does not love the robin ? He sings a most lovely 
note. 

The raven is not a fine bird nor a very good bird ; he 
has been known to pull up corn. 



THE HORSE RACE 

Who loves a horse race ? Are not too many fond of 
it ? Does it not lead to many evils, and to frequent ruin ? 
Never go to a horse race. Mr. Mix had one child, whom 
he called Irene ; he had also a good farm, and some money. 
He went to the races with his child, dressed in black crape 
for the loss of her mother. Here Mr. Mix drank freely, 
and bet largely, and lost all he was worth. At night he 
went home a beggar ; took a dose of brandy, and died 
before morning, leaving his child a pennyless orphan. 
Never go to a horse race. 



THE COACH AND TWO. 

Who is she that is growing up to the good fortune of 
riding in a coach and two ? She is the girl who rises with 
the rising day; — 
whose hands and face 
are made clean ; — 
whose hair is cleared 
of snarly locks, and 
neatly rolled in 
papers; and whose 
clothes are clean and 
whole though never 
gay. She who loves 
her book,- her school, the truth, and her parents, and also 
the path of peace and virtue. I now see her through the 
window of the carriage, and I hear her say : — 




The Coach and Two. 
From The Clinton Primer, 1830. 



244 Old-time Schools and School-books 

" What though I ride in a coach and pair, 
And in dress and food like a princess fare ; 
I'll not be proud like the haughty Moor, 
Nor stop my ear at the cry of the poor." 

The next selection is from Worcester's A Second 
Book for Reading and Spellings Boston, 1830. It is 
a story wherein merit is so promptly rewarded as to 
take one's breath away. 




MR. WOOD AND CHARLES BELL. 

From Worcester's Second Book, 1 830. 

One day, when Mr. Wood took a walk to the end of 
the town, he saw Charles Bell, who lives with his Aunt 
Jane, hard at work in his aunt's garden. 

" I think you are warm, Charles," said Mr. Wood. 

Charles held up his head, and made a bow, and said 

" Yes, sir ; my aunt says, corn is so scarce, and bread so 
dear, that I must work, or else she cannot keep me." 

" You seem to be a nice boy," said Mr. Wood ; " will 
you come and live with me ? I will give you as much 
bread as you want, and will not make you work so hard." 



Primary Readers 



245 



But Charles thought his aunt needed him. So 
Mr. Wood told Charles to call at his house and he 
would give him a dollar and some good books, and 
he also offered to send Charles to school. Charles 
replied that he would refer the matter to his aunt. 
She was agreeably disposed, and he called on Mr. 
Wood and got the books. No doubt he got the 
dollar also, though that is not mentioned. Better 
still, his benefactor arranged to have him go to 
school, and " He was so good a boy and learned 
so fast that Mr. Wood sent him to college." 



Jllll 






is»3 




111 


iHi^^^a^u^SwHSiii 


lllll^i 




J 


WamE^*- ~ — =__— 


HI 



THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. 

From Worcester's Second Book. 



Here is pictured a youth of another sort. The 
text says : — 

See that little boy creeping softly along on tiptoe towards 
his mother's tea-table. See him lift the cover of the sugar- 
pot and as quickly as possible, put one piece in his mouth, 
and another in his pocket. 



246 Old-time Schools and School-books 

His name is William Morton. His kind mother is sit- 
ting at the fire place mending his clothes, with his little 
baby sister asleep on her lap. She does not think that 
William is thus taking what is not his own. 

William goes on from day to day, taking apples, and 
cakes, and sugar, without leave ; and what is worse, he 
tries hard to conceal it, and even tells lies about it. 

Does William know that this is stealing ? Does he 
remember that this is breaking the Eighth Command- 
ment of the Lord his God. 




THE SLEIGH-RIDE. 

From Worcester's Second Book- 

For a final selection from Worcester's book I give 
this letter which Lucy Turner, thirteen years old, 
wrote to her mother, who was spending a month in 
Boston at the home of Lucy's aunt, Mrs. White. 
It serves as a dreadful example to all children who, 
like Lucy, " never take any pains to learn to spell." 

Mi deer Mama, 

Wen yu cum bak, wee shal awl bee pleesed. Evry 
wun seams dul becaus yu air gon. 



Primary Readers 247 

Farther sez hee wonts yu too sta longe enuff too hav 
ay gude vissit ; butt ie no hee wil bee gladd whenn yure 
vissit iss ovur. 

Jaims gose too skule and ie thinke hee behaivs wel. 
Saror stais att hom, and wurks withe mee. Wee awl in- 
joy gude helth. 

Doo rite mee ay lettur, and tel mee abowt Bosten, and 
ant Wite's foax, and hou soone wee ma expekt yu. 
Yure verry luving childe, 
Lucy Turner. 

Now, only think how much grieved and ashamed her 
mother must have been, when she found that Lucy had 
spelled only her name and one word right. 






-Ijtttf 



L 



That man i 

Two oxen s 

They wear a heavy yoke. 

The plough makes furrows. 

That ladFtas a long whip. 

He will wliip the oxen, 

to make them t?o fast. 
' He will not whip them hawk 

Some cows are eating.grasK, 

in the distant field. 

There are some mountains. 

Their tops are ver> high. 

and are above the clouds. 

There is the ocean. 

The ocean is very wide. 

A ship is sailing on it. 

You can hardly see the ship, 
'It is so far off. - 



Two Pages. 

From Gallaudet's The Child's Picture Defining Book, 1830 

Reduced one-half. 



A strong man. 


Some 


h Wy plough. 


Mow 


Two large oxen. 


Cloui 


A wooden yoke. 


The ^ 


A large field. 


% ffis 


Ayounglad. 
A kmg whin. 
A wooden fence. 


1 A fed 

A sic 


Mam 



Gallaudet's The Child's Picture Defining and Read- 
ing Book, Hartford, 1830, had a half-page cut on 



248 Old-time Schools and School-books 



every left-hand page. Its author was evidently a 
man of much keener and more sympathetic peda- 
gogic perception. than most of the makers of school 
books and the plan of the book was quite interest- 
ing. The idea was to teach the meaning of words 
through the " language of pictures," and each of the 
engravings in the first part of the book is accom- 
panied by a list of the most prominent objects in it 
and with a few short, simple phrases. The cuts are 
repeated in the latter part of the book, but this time 
the text that goes with each is a little story. 

Here is an illustration from The Progressive Reader 
or Juvenile Monitor, Concord, New Hampshire, 1 830: 
We are told that the bird it de- 
picts " sang from morning till 
evening and was very hand- 
some." Caroline, the little girl 
to whom the bird belonged, 
" fed it with seeds and cooling 
herbs and sugar, and refreshed 
it daily with water from a clear 
fountain." But at length it 
died. " The little girl lamented 
her beloved bird, and wept sore." 
Then her mother bought an- 
other " handsomer than the 
former, and as fair a songster." 
" But Caroline wept still more," and her mother, 
" amazed," asked the reason. Caroline replied it 
was because she had wronged the bird that died by 
eating a piece of sugar herself that her mother had 
given her for the bird. The mother saw then why 




A Bird. 



From The Progressive Reader, 
1830. 



Primary Readers 



249 



Caroline had been so distressed. It was " the 
sacred voice of nature in the heart of her child." 

" Ah ! " said she, " what must be the feelings of 
an ungrateful child at the grave of its parents." 

The longest narrative in the book was entitled — 




The good Samaritan, 

From The Progressive Reader. 



CHARLES BRUCE TELLS HIS ADVEN- 
TURES. 

When I was about twelve years old, an Indian by the 
name of Splitlog, came to my father's house in Boston. 
He was generally esteemed a good Indian, and he loved 
my father, because he once saved his life, when he was 
attacked by some sailors in the streets of Boston. 

He asked my father to let me go home with him. He 
told me of excellent sport they had in shooting squirrels 
and deer where he lived ; so I begged my father to let me 
go, and he at length consented. 



250 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Splitlog lived near Northampton, at the foot of a moun- 
tain called Mount Holyoke, just on the bank of Connecticut 
river. 

There is a good road from Boston to Northampton now, 
and the stage travels it every day. But the road was bad 
when I went with Splitlog, and there were no stages in 
America then. 

So Splitlog and I set out on foot. The second day we 
arrived at Worcester. It was then a very little town, and 
there were no such fine houses there as now. 

The fourth day we arrived at Splitlog's house, which was 
a little wigwam at the foot of mount Holyoke. 

In this little house we found Splitlog's wife and three 
children ; two bovs and a girl. Splitlog's wife roasted some 
bear's meat, and gave us some bread made of pounded corn, 
which formed our supper. 

We sat on the floor, and took the meat in our fingers, 
for the Indians had no knives or forks. I then went to 
bed on some bear skins, and slept well. 

Early in the morning, Splitlog called me from my sleep, 
and told me they were going into the woods a-shooting, and 
that I must go with them. I was soon ready and set out 
with Splitlog and his two sons. 

It was a fine bright morning in October. The sun was 
shining on the top of mount Tom and mount Holyoke. 
We ascended Holyoke, through the woods. 

At length we climbed a high rock, from which we could 
see the beautiful valley far below us, in the centre of which 
was the little town of Northampton. 

" Do you see those houses ? " said Splitlog to me. 
" When my grand-father was a boy, there was not a house 
where you now see so many. That valley, which now 
belongs to white men, then belonged to red men. But 
hark! I hear a squirrel chattering; we must go and find 
him. Whist ! " said Splitlog, " and follow me." 



Primary Readers 251 

We all followed accordingly, and soon discovered a fine 
grey squirrel sitting in the top of a walnut tree with a nut 
in his fore paws. 

Splitlog beconed to his youngest son, who drew his bow, 
and discharged his arrow, which whistled over the back of 
the squirrel, but did not touch him. 

Splitlogs eldest son immediately discharged his arrow, 
which struck the squirrel in the side, and brought him in- 
stantly to the ground. 

After this adventure, we proceeded cautiously through 
the woods. We had not gone far, when Splitlog beckoned 
to us all to stop. 

" Look yonder," said he to me, " on that high rock 
above us." I did so and saw a young deer, or fawn, stand- 
ing upon the point of a rock, which hung over the valley. 

Splitlog now selected a choice arrow, placed it on the 
bow, and sent it whizzing through the air. It struck the 
fawn directly through the heart. 

The little animal sprang violently forward over the rock, 
and fell dead, many feet below, where Splitlog's sons soon 
found him. We now returned to Splitlog's house carrying 
the fawn with us. 

This hunt was the chief event in Charles Bruce's 
visit and a few days later he returned to Boston. 

Among the engravings in the book is the one 
reproduced herewith. The text says : — 

To give a better idea of the 
figure and appearance of the lion, 
I have procured this picture of 
a young lion ; by which you will 
see that lions, when a few weeks 
old, are only as large as small A Young Lion. 

dogs. From The Progressive Reader. 




252 Old-time Schools and School-books 

The zebra picture is accompanied by the state- 
ment that " His appearance is very beautiful, and 
he is esteemed one of the handsomest of quadrupeds." 





"A Handsome Quadruped." The French. 

From The Progressive Reader. From The Progressive Reader. 

Of the squirrel we are told " Its tail constitutes 
its greatest singularity, as well as its principal orna- 
ment. It is also not less useful than ornamental ; 
for being sufficiently large and bushy to cover the 
whole body, it serves as an excellent defence against 
the inclemencies of the weather. It also greatly 
assists it in clinging and adhering to trees." 

The most ambitious poem in the book is the one 
reprinted in part below : — 

STORY OF AMERICA IN VERSE 

Columbus was a sailor brave, 
The first that crossed th' Atlantic wave. 
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, 
He came far o'er the ocean blue, 
Where ne'er a ship had sailed before, 
And found a wild and savage shore, 
Where naked men in forests prowled, 
And bears and panthers roamed and howled. 



Primary Readers 253 

At length, when years had passed away, 
Some English came to Virginia ; 
'Twas sixteen hundred seven ; be sure 
You let this in your mind endure ; 
For 'twas the first bold colony 
Planted in North America ; 
The first that laid the deep foundation, 
On which has since been built a nation. 
Well, here they raised a far-famed Town 
On James' river, called Jamestown. 
They struggled hard 'gainst many sorrows, 
Sickness and want, and Indian arrows ; 
But bold and strong at length they grew, 
And were a brave and manly crew. 

'Twas eight years after this, — I mean 
The year sixteen hundred fifteen, — 
Some Dutch, from Holland, settled pat on 
An Island which they called Manhattan, 
And straight they sat themselves to work, 
And built the city of New-York. 
Now let the laughing wags and jokers 
Say that the Dutch are stupid smokers ; 
We only tell, that, dull or witty, 
They founded famous New-York city ; 
The largest city in the west, 
For trade and commerce quite the best. 

A curious lesson found in The Union Primer, 
1832, was this : — 

A boy who was idle and wicked, saw an old man with 
poor clothes on — he went up to him as he was in the \y 
grave-yard, and said, " Father, you are in a very miserable 
condition if there is not another world." " True, son," 



254 Old-time Schools and School-books 

replied the old Christian, "but what is your condition if 
there is ? I have a plenty to keep me warm and dry, but I 
fear you have not that which can keep your soul from 
Hell." 




A Depiction of Wickedness. 
Printed above the Ten Commandments in The Union Primer, 1 832. 

The compiler of The Child's Guide ', a popular and 
in many ways admirable text-book, published at 
Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1833, urges that the 
pupils should read " very distinctly and slowly," and 
he says, " When / used to go to school I found 
these lines in my book : — 

Learn to speak slow ; all other graces 
Will follow in their proper places." 

As an aid to clear comprehension and correct 
enunciation the text is well peppered with words in 
italics to indicate that such words are " emphatical." 
On the next page is the frontispiece. No wonder 
"all the boys looked" when they discovered their 



Primary Readers 255 

master had been carrying a prickly thing like that in 
his pocket. It seems the master had happened along 
that morning while a group of boys were pounding 
chestnuts out of some green burs they had knocked 




" He put his hand into his pocket again, and took out the chestnut burr, 
and all the boys looked at it." 

Frontispiece to The Child's Guide, 1833. 

off a tree, and he heard them declaring that the chest- 
nuts " ought to grow right out in the open air, like 
apples; and not have such vile prickly skins on 
them." He asked for one of the burs, and ap- 



256 Old-time Schools and School-books 

parently carried it in his pocket all day, for the text 
says : — 

That afternoon, when it was about time to dismiss the 
school, the boys put away their books, and the master read 
a few verses in the Bible and then offered a prayer, in which 
he asked God to forgive all the sins any of them had com- 
mitted that day, and to take care of them during the night. 
After this he took his handkerchief out of his pocket, and 
put his hand into his pocket again, and took out the chest- 
nut burr, and all the boys looked at it. 

Then the master, through questions and explana- 
tions, satisfied the scholars that prickly burs are the 
only proper and safe covering for chestnuts. 

In a lesson farther on, entitled "The Listener," 
are recounted the tribulations of Charlotte Walden, 
who " had a constant desire to hear what everybody 
was saying," and who if sent out of the room when 
her father and mother did not wish her to hear 
their conversation, stopped outside the door " with 
her ear close to the key-hole." 

One of her curls once got entangled in the key, and when 
her father suddenly opened the door, she fell forward into 
the room, and hurt her nose so that it bled. 

When she knew that her mother had visitors in the par- 
lor, or that her father had gentlemen there with him on busi- 
ness, she would quit her lessons or her playthings, and come 
softly down stairs and listen at the door ; or would slip into 
the garden and crouch down under the open window, that 
she might hear what they were saying. 

Once when she was stooping, half double, under the 
parlor window, her father, not knowing that she was there y 



Primary Readers 



257 



and finding that a fly had got into the glass of beer that he 
was going to drink, went to throw out the beer, and emptied 
the tumbler on Charlotte's bead. 

But neither these nor other mishaps reformed her 
until one evening she secreted herself at the top of 
the cellar stairs to listen to the servants talking in 
the kitchen. She fell asleep, and about midnight 
tumbled off the stairs on to a heap of coal. Her 
screams awakened the household, she was taken to 
her room, and sickness and repentance and never- 
did-so-any-more followed as a matter of course. 




" Dear uncle, 1 cry almost all day long." 
From The Child's Guide. 

This shows the habit of the times in presenting 
right and wrong to the youthful mind. There was 
always the same sharp contrast; evil suffered prompt 
and severe punishment, and good was as promptly 
and decisively rewarded, while reforms were aston- 
ishingly sudden and complete. Actual experience 



258 Old-time Schools and School-books 

must have been sorely disappointing to the child 
who believed these character-myths. Here is another 
typical reading-book story from The Child's Guide. 
It is called — 



THE IDLE SCHOOL BOY. 

I will tell you about the laziest boy you ever heard of. 
He was indolent about every thing. When he had spelled 
a word, he drawled out one syllable after another, as if he 
were afraid the syllables would quarrel, if he did not keep 
them a great ways apart. Once, when he was saying a les- 
son in Geography, his Master asked him, "What is said 
of Hartford?" He answered, " Hartford is a flourishing 
comical town." 

He meant it was a " flourishing, commercial town " ; but 
he was such a dunce, that he never knew what he was 
about. 

Another day, when his class were reciting a lesson from 
the Dictionary, he made a mistake, worse than all the 
rest. The word, A-ceph-a-lous, was printed with syllables 
divided as you see; the definition of the word was, "with- 
out a head." 

The idle boy had often been laughed at for being so 
very slow in saying his lesson ; this time he thought he 
would be very quick and smart ; so he spelled the word 
before the Master had a chance to put it out. And how 
do you think he spelled it ? 

" A-c-e-p-h, Aceph," said he ; "A louse without a head." 
The boys laughed at him so much about this, that he was 
obliged to leave school. 

You can easily guess what luck this idle boy had. His 
father tried to give him a good education, but he would be 
a dunce ; not because he was a fool, but because he was 



Primary Readers I59 

too lazy to give his attention to any thing. He had a con- 
siderable fortune left him ; but he was too lazy to take 
care of it ; and now he goes about the streets, with his 
hands in his pockets, begging his bread. 




"Two Wicked Birds." 
From Pierpont's The Young Reader, 1835. 

The above engraving from Pierpont's The Young 
Reader, illustrates a story " about two foolish cocks 
that were always quarrelling, which is very naughty." 
These two wicked birds " were hardly out of the 
shell before they began to peck at each other, and 
they never looked pretty, because their feathers were 
pulled off in fighting till they were quite bare." 
They seem, however, to have plenty of feathers in 
the picture. As was to be expected, they came to 
an ill end, and they got only their just deserts when 
a fox ate them both. 

Lovell's Young Pupils' Second Book, New Haven, 
1836, followed the plan of The Child's Guide in the 
use of italics, but what it particularly prided itself on 



160 Old-time Schools and School-books 

was its pictures. These it says are of " a superior 
order." They consisted chiefly of " compound 
cuts," all of the same general style as the one repro- 
duced herewith. The preface claims that the com- 
pound cuts are certain to " make a deep and lasting 
impression, aiding the memory by storing it with 
useful and accurate knowledge. After the child has 
pored over them, the details which follow will be 
read with anxiety and delight." The text accom- 
panying the cut selected was this : — 



The Goat. 




fcife and fork handles. * •=sS I ^^ J cloves. 

A "Composite Cut." 
From Loveli's The Young Pupils' Second Book, 1836- 



Not many goats are raised in this country. They gnazv 
the bark of trees and spoil them, so they have not been 
suffered to increase. In some parts abroad, and most of 
all in the east of the world, there are many goats. The 
he-goats have long horns. Young goats are called kids, and 
are full of play, and skip about in a very droll manner. 
In a wild state, goats climb steep rocks, and can stand and 
spring where few other an i mals would dare to go. The 
goat has a very strong and un pleas ant smell, but his flesh 



^k^^^&i^^&^iM^^^^^^i, 




Going to the Fields. 




The pretty little Bird. 

From American Juvenile Primer, 1838, 



Primary Readers 261 

is very good to eat. The milk of the goat is also very 
nice to drink, and is used as a cure for some dis eas es. 
The skin of the kid is made into soft leather gloves. 
Goats' horns are used for handles of knives and forks. 
The hair is often made into garments. 

The following is a lesson which combines natural 
history, moral training, and religion : — 

The Hen. 

Of all feathered an i mals, there is none more useful 
than the common hen. Her eggs supply us with food during 
her life, and her flesh affords us del i cate meat after her 
death. What a moth er ly care does she take of her young ! 
How closely and ten der ly does she tvatch over them, and 
cover them with her wings ; and how bravely does she 
defend them from e ver y en e my, from which she herself 
would fly aivay in terror, if she had not them to protect ! 

While this sight reminds you of the wisdom and good- 
ness of her Cre a tor, let it also remind you of the care 
which your own mother took of you, during your helpless 
years, and of the grat i tude and duty which you owe to her 
for all her kindness. 

I quote below bits from various lessons : — 

Many apple trees live above a thousand years, and it is 
said there are some trees which were not destroyed when 
the world was drowned. 

Of all the horses in the world, some of the finest are 
said to be bred in England. The English racers often go at 
the rate of a mile in two minutes ; and some of them have 
been known to go a mile in one minute. 

Does any body live on the moon ? 



262 Old-time Schools and School-books 

That, my dear, is what we can not certainly know; the 
moon being at too great a distance for us to discover any 
living creatures upon it. But, judging from what we can 
discover, and from the general resemblance of the moon 
to the earth, we have reason to suppose that the moon may 
be in hab it ed by rational, in tel li gent creatures, capable 
of knowing and praising their Creator. 

The Sun. 

The sun is above a mi/lion times larger than the earth ; 
and like the earth, turns round about itself. It was for- 
merly supposed to be an immense body of fire; but this 
opinion is no longer entertained by those who appear to be 
best acquainted with the subject. 

They think it can not be a body of fire, because, in that 
case the nearer we approached to it, the greater degree of 
warmth we should feel. But the contrary is the fact ; it is 
ascertained, that upon very high mountains the air is much 
colder than it is below. Besides, by looking at the sun 
through a glass made for the purpose, we perceive some 
dark spots upon it, which would not be the case were it a 
body of fire. We conclude, therefore, that the sun is not a 
body of fire. 

What then is the sun ? 

The sun is understood to be an immense ball, or globe, 
surrounded with an illumined atmosphere, which acting upon 
the air that en com pass es the earth and other planets, in a 
manner we are un ac quaint ed with, produces light and heat. 



XMandeville's Primary Reader, 
New York, 1849, endeavors to 
teach words and their meanings 
a Topsy-turvy Hat. by elaborate repetitions and com- 
FromB ^ e i s i842 monV binations. The text makes a 



Primary Readers 



263 




very queer patchwork. Here is a lesson where the 
words the child is specially to learn are " par-rot, 
ti-ger, cam-el." It might have been just as well in 
deference to the pictures not to have talked so much 
of cages and carts. 

This is a par^rot in a cage 1 

against the wall 

That is a ti-ger in a cage 
upon a cart, 

This must be a cam-el 

Doubtful Statements. 
From Mandeville's Primary Reader, 1849. 

The text goes on to say : — 

Every tame parrot was once a wild parrot in the woods. 

Some men have several parrots in the same cage against 
the wall, but this man has but one. 

Every tiger is not young, but some tigers are old tigers. 

Camels are high, long, large and strong. 

The camel is not wild and fierce like the tiger in the 
cage on the cart, but tame and mild. 

Some parrots can talk like any boy or girl. 

No one should put his hand or his head in the cage of 
the fierce tiger. 

All camels will carry men and women, boys and girls, 
as well as a large horse, or a strong mule. 

Below is a specimen of what the book can do when 
it undertakes to tell a story : — 



264 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Two boys went out in-to the snow, with a lit-tle sled. 
One was na-med James, the oth-er was na-med Sam-u-el. 
James said to Sam-u-el, " You dare not go on that pond 
with your sled." Sam-u-el said, " Yes, I dare, but it is 
wrong ; be-cause fa-ther said we must not do it." Then 
James laugh-ed and said, " What of that ? Fa-ther can- 
not see us ; for he is at work in the shop." 

Was not James a wick-ed boy ? He was. He for-got 
that God saw him all the time. 

Sam-u-el beg-ged him not to take the sled on the pond, 
be-cause the ice was thin. But James was ob-stin-ate, 
and went on the thin ice a great way. Then Sam-u-el 
went back to the house and read in his Sun-day-school book. 

After Sam-u-el had read a lit-tle while, he heard a noise 
out of doors. It was James's voice. Sam-u-el was 
fright-en-ed, and ran out, and there saw James in the 
wa-ter. The ice was bro-ken, and James was up to his 
neck in the pond. The poor boy was scream-ing for some- 
bod-y to come and take him out. Sam-u-el took a long 
pole, and held the end of it, and James caught hold of the 
oth-er end and crawl-ed out. His moth-er was ver-y sor-ry. 
She was a-fraid James would be sick ; and he was sick a 
long time. But there was an-oth-er thing which made 
her more sor-ry still. It was his be-ing so wick-ed. 

The selections I have made show certain salient 
and picturesque features of the old-time readers, but 
leave many books entirely unmentioned. I have 
said nothing of the readers edited by Lyman Cobb, 
who was the first to compile a thoroughly complete 
and well-graded series. Worcester's books soon 
followed, and Sanders's came a little later, and by 
1850 Town, McGuffy, Russell, Swan, and others 
were in the field and the series idea was firmly 
established. 



ADVANCED READERS 

FOR several decades in the early days of the 
Republic the Catechism, the Psalter, and the 
Bible continued to be extensively used in 
the schools, and served for drilling the pupils in the 
art of reading. But the child could not acquire a 
taste for reading from such sources, nor obtain from 
them information concerning history, or the world 
about him, or the world at large. There was a 
demand for more freedom in the use of secular 
material in the school curriculum. The national 
life was developing rapidly, interests were broaden- 
ing, and a steady theological diet was no longer 
satisfying. Besides, the general unity of religious 
doctrine which characterized the people earlier had 
given place to diversity, and Calvinism had strenu- 
ous opponents. As a result there was a marked 
increase in the number and variety of the school- 
books, and in these the nature of the child, his 
inclinations, tastes, and desires became more and 
more dominant factors in the choice and arrange- 
ment of the subject-matter. Instead of demanding 
that the child should adjust himself entirely to the 
course of study, efforts were made to adjust the 
course of study to the requirements of the child. 
265 



266 Old-time Schools and School-books 

The first reader produced on this side of the 
Atlantic was compiled by the industrious Noah 
Webster, shortly after the Revolution, as the Third 
Part of his Grammatical Institute. Hitherto, the 
spellers and New England Primers were the only 
text-books containing exercises in reading. Web- 
ster's title-page describes his book as "An American 
Selection of Leffons in Reading and Speaking cal- 
culated to improve the minds and refine the tafte of 
youth, to which are prefixed Rules in Elocution 
and directions for expressing the Principal Paffions 
of the Mind." From the prefatory matter I have 
taken the several paragraphs which follow : — 

Let each fyllable be pronounced with a clear voice, with- 
out whining, drawling, lifping, ftammering, mumbling in 
the throat, or fpeaking through the nofe. 

If a perfon is rehearfing the words of an angry man, he 
fhould affume the fame furious looks; his eyes fhould flafh 
with rage, his geftures fhould be violent, and the tone of 
his voice threatening. If kindnefs is to be expreffed, the 
countenance fhould be calm and placid, and wear a fmile, 
the tone fhould be mild, and the motion of the hand 
inviting. 

Mirth or laughter opens the mouth, crifps the nofe, lef- 
fens the aperture of the eyes, and fhakes the whole frame. 

Grief is expreffed by weeping, ftamping with the feet, 
lifting up the eyes to heaven, &c. 

Fear opens the eyes and mouth, fhortens the nofe, draws 
down the eye-brows, gives the countenance an air of wild- 
nefs ; the face becomes pale, the elbows are drawn back 
parrallel with the fides, one foot is drawn back, the heart 
beats violently, the breath is quick, the voice weak and 
trembling. 



Advanced Readers 267 

Boa/ting is loud and bluftering. The eyes ftare, the 
face is red and bloated, the mouth pouts, the voice is 
hollow, the arms akimbo, the head nods in a threatening 
manner, the right fift lbmetimes clenched and brandifhed. 

The bulk of the book is made up of three depart- 
ments — " Narration," " Lessons in Speaking," 
and " Dialogues." In one lesson with the caption 
" Rules for Behavior," we find this advice : — 

Never hold any body by the button or the hand, in 
order to be heard through your story ; for if the people 
are not willing to hear you, you had much better hold your 
tongue than hold them. 

Here are the opening paragraphs of a tale entitled 

MODESTY, DOUBT, AND TENDER AFFECTION. 

CALISTA was young and beautiful, endowed with a 
great fhare of wit and folid fenfe. Agathocles, whofe 
age very little exceeded hers, was well made, brave and 
prudent. He had the good fortune to be introduced to 
Califta's home, where his looks, wandering indifferently 
over a numerous circle, foon diftinguifhed and fixed upon 
her. 

But recovering from the fhort ecftacy occafioned by the 
firft fight, he reproached himfelf, as being guilty of rude- 
nefs to the reft of the company ; a fault which he endeav- 
oured to correct by looking round on other objects. Vain 
attempt ! They were attracted by a powerful charm, and 
turned again towards Califta. He blufhed as well as lhe, 
while a fweet emotion produced a kind of fluttering in his 
heart, and confufion in his countenance, 



268 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Of course, after that, Agathocles became a fre- 
quent caller, and in every visit " he difcovered fome 
new perfection in the fair Califta." 

At laft he refolved to open his heart to her; but he did 
not do it in the affected language of a romantic paffion. 
11 Lovely Califta," faid he ingenuoufly, " it is not mere 
efteem that binds me to you, but a moft paffionate and 
tender love. I feel that I cannot live without you : Can 
you, without violence to your inclinations, confent to 
make me happy ? I may love you without offence ; 'tis 
a tribute due to your merit : But may I flatter myfelf with 
the hopes of fome fmall return ? " 

A coquette would have affected to be difpleafed at fuch a 
declaration. But Califta not only liftened to her lover with- 
out interrupting him, but anfwered him without ill-nature, 
and gave him leave to hope. Nor did fhe put his conftancv 
to a tedious trial : the happinefs for which he fighed was 
no longer delayed, than was neceffary to prepare for the 
ceremony. 

Another lesson from which I wish to quote is — 

SELF-TORMENTING 

SERGEANT Tremble and his wife, during a time of 
general health, feel as eafy and fecure as if their chil- 
dren were immortal. If there are no cancers, dvfenteries, 
fmall-pox, bladders in the throat, and fuch like things to be 
heard of, they almoft bid defiance to death ; but the mo- 
ment information was given that a child fix miles off, had 
the throat diftemper, all comfort bade adieu to the houfe ; 
and the mifery then endured from dreadful apprehenfions, 
left the difeafe fhould enter the family, is unfpeakable. 

The old fergeant thought that when the wind blew from 
that quarter, he could fmell the infection, and therefore 



Advanced Readers 269 

ordered the children to keep in the houfe, and drink worm- 
wood and rum, as a prefervation againft contagion. As for 
Mrs. Tremble, her mind was in a ftate of ceafelefs agitation 
at that time. A fpecimen of the common fituation of the 
family is as follows. 

Sujy, your eyes look heavy, you don't feel a fore throat, 
do you ? Hufband, I heard Tommy cough in the bed room 
juft now. I'm afraid the diftemper is beginning in his 
vitals, let us get up and light a candle. You don't feel any 
fore on your tongue or your mouth, do you, my dear little 
chicken ? It feems to me Molly did not eat her breakfaft 
with fo good a ftomach this morning as fhe ufed to do. I 
fear she has got the diftemper coming on. 

To be fhort, the child that had the diftemper died-; and 
no other child was heard of, in thofe parts, to have it ; fo 
that tranquility and fecurity were reftored to Mr. Tremble's 
family, and their children regarded as formerly, proof 
against mortality. 

THE 

LITTLE READER'S 

ASSISTANT; 

CONTAINING 



I. A number of Stories, 
moftly taken from the hift- 
ory of America.and adorned 
with Cuts. 

II. Rudiments'of Englifh 
Grammar.^ 

III. A Federal Catechifm, 
!being a fhort and eafy ex- 



planation of the Confuta- 
tion of the United States. 

IV. General principles 
of Government and Com- 
merce. 

V. The Farmer's Cate- 
chizm, containing plain 
rules of husbandry. 



All adapted Jo the capacities of childn 



Portion of Title-page. 1791. 



270 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



About 1790 Webster published another reader, a 
square little book called The Little Reader s Assist- 
ant. It contained " familiar ftories in plain lan- 
guage for the benefit of children, when they firft 
begin to read without fpelling." In other words, it 
was a middle-class reader. A good many years were 
still to pass before any one would devise a primary 
reader. The first part of Webster's book is largely 




Story of COLUMBUS. 

From The Little Reader s Assistant. 

a relation of the early settlers' experiences with 
the Indians. No details are too grewsome to 
be omitted, and the effect on the imaginations of 
" Little Readers " could not have been altogether 
salutary ; for the stories were sure to be recalled 
whenever a child had to encounter alone the mysteri- 
ous dusk of evening or the gloom of night. The 
book has the honor to be the earliest reader to use 



Advanced Readers 



271 



illustrations, and several of the weird little pictures 
are here reproduced. The art of engraving as 
practised in this country was very crude, and these 
are fair examples of the rough-hewn primitiveness 
of the book illustrations of the period. Their un- 
couth ness was still further emphasized by the paper 
on which they were printed, for all the paper of 
early American manufacture was inferior, and very 
little, even of the best, was of a snowy whiteness. 
The first picture in Webster's book illustrated the 
" Story of Columbus," and I suppose that is Colum- 
bus himself waving his hat from the mast-head. The 
sea has a very lively appearance, and there is some 
doubt whether the artist has delineated an expanse of 
white-capped waves or a multitude of leaping fish. 




A "Christian" Indian getting the Best of a Heathen Indian, 
From Webster's The Little Reader's Assistant. 

The text accompanying the picture of the two 
Indians says the individual behind the rock was 



272 Old-time Schools and School-books 




Night Attack of Indians on Major Waldron's House, Dover, N.hL 




Captain John Smith a Captive in Serious Danger. 
From The Little Reader's Assistant. 

friendly to the English. He was pursued by one 
of his enemies and betook himself to this refuge ; 
" but feeing his purfuer on the other side, waiting to 
shoot him as he lifted his head above the rock he 



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273 



put his hat upon his gun, and raifed it (lowly above 
the rock. The Indians feeing it, fired a ball through 
it; and before he could load his gun again, the 
chriftian Indian fhot him through the head." 

The cut showing the predicament of Captain 
John Smith must have been very interesting to the 
old-time school children, and. equally so the spirited 
portrayal of Putnam and the Wolf. You can see 



::;ii!!W;^i!iii,.jrhiu;\'i!i»riLr»3Jianu;^7!Ll;iimi:C!^..l'iai:a:g^ 




Putnam and the Wolf. 
From The Little Readers Assistant. 

the rope attached to Putnam's leg and his comrades 
up above gripping it, ready to pull him forth. We 
can fancy very well the damage to that hero's clothes 
and person as he was hauled out, if the picture gives 
a truthful impression of the jaggedness of the rocks. 
The street scene shows " Charles Churchill the 
poet. As he was returning home one night at a 
late hour, he was accofted by a female, whofe air 
and manner raifed his curiofity to take particular 

T 



274 Old-time Schools and School-books 

notice of her. She appeared to be about fifteen 
years old, and handfome, but pinching want had 
given her beauty a fickly caft, and the horrors of 
dispair were feen in the languid fmile which fhe put 



<rgrw~*- m* g aa -a ar 




The Benevolent Churchill. 
From The Little Reader's Assistant- 



on while fhe fpoke." Churchill gave her a piece 
of money whereat "fhe fell upon her knees in the 
ftreet, and raifing her eyes and hands to heaven, fhe 
remained in that pofture for fome time, unable to 
exprefs the gratitude that filled her heart." She 
told her benefactor a sad tale of distress, and he 
learned she had parents dependent on her. So he 
went with her to her home garret and there the rest 
of the family were soon on their knees around the 
poet, and he " gave them ten guineas." 

The final picture is of a queer-looking beast that 
one would hardly recognize if it were not labelled. 
The text says : — 



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275 



THE Buffalo, found in the woods of America, is a large 
animal with black, fhort horns. He has a large beard 
under his lower jaw, and a large tuft of hair upon his head, 
which falls down upon his eyes and gives him a hideous 
look. He has a large bump or rifing on his back, beginnig 
at his hips and increafing to his fhoulders. This is covered 
with hair, fomewhat reddifh, and very long. The reft of 
the body is covered with black wool ; a f kin produces about 
eight pounds of wool, which is very valuable. 




The Buffalo. 
From The Little Reader's Assistant. 



The buffalo has a good fmell, and will perceive a man at 
a great diftance, unlefs the wind is in the man's favor. His 
flefh is good, but the bull's is too tuff, fo that none but the 
cow's is generally eaten. His fkin makes good lether — 
and the Indians ufe it for fhields. 

The last half of the book is devoted to a "Farmer's 
Catechizm," mostly agricultural instruction, but start- 
ing off with some general laudation like — ■ 



276 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Q. Why is farming the bejt bnfiness a man can do ? 

A. Becaufe it is the moft neceffary, the moft helthy, the 
moft innocent, and moft agreeable employment of men. 

Q. Why is farming the moft innocent employment ? 

A. Becaufe farmers have fewer temptations to be wick;d 
than other men. They live much by themfelves, fo that 
they do not fee fo many bad examples as men in cities do. 
They have but little dealing with others, fo that they 
have fewer opportunities to cheat than other claffes of 
men. Befides, the flocks and herds which furround the 
farmer, the frolicks of the harmlefs lambs, the fongs of the 
cheerful birds, and the face of nature's works, all prefent to 
the hufbandman examples of innocence, beauty, fimplicity 
and order, which ought to imprefs good fentiments on the 
mind and lead the heart to God. 

One of the most popular of the early readers was 
Caleb Bingham's The American Preceptor, Boston, 
1794. The preface declares that — 

In making felections for the following work, a preference 
has been given to the productions of American genius. 
The compiler, however, has not been wholly confined to 
America; but has extracted from approved writers of differ- 
ent ages and countries. Convinced of the impropriety of 
inftilling falfe notions into the minds of children, he has not 
given place to romantic fiction. The compiler pledges him- 
felt, that this book contains neither a word nor a fentiment 
which would " raife a blufh on the cheek of modeftv." 

Most of the early reading books drew their 
materials largely from British sources, and American 
contributions were for a long time mainly from the 
speeches of the Revolutionary orators. Typical 
subjects were : Frailty of Life, Benevolence of 



Advanced Readers 277 

the Deity, Popery, Rules for Moderating Our 
Anger, Reflections on Sun Set, Character of a 
Truly Polite Man, The Child Trained Up for the 
Gallows. These and the rest of their kind were all 
"extracted from the works of the most correct and 
elegant writers." The books were also pretty sure 
to contain selections from the Bible, and some had 
parts of sermons. Indeed, nearly all the matter 
was of a serious, moral, or religious character. 

From the American Preceptor I quote a portion of 

A Dialogue between tivo School Boys, on Dancing. 

Harry. Tom, when are you going to begin your dancing ? 
You will be fo old in a fhort time as to be afhamed to be 
feen taking your five pofitions. 

Thomas. I don't know as I fhall begin at all. Father 
fays he don't care a fig whether I learn to jump any better 
than I do now; and, as I am to be a tradesman, he is 
determined to keep me at the reading and writing fchools. 

Har. That muft be very dull and dry for you. And 
what good will all fuch learning do you, fo long as you 
make the awkward appearance you do at prefent ? I am 
furprifed at your father's folly. So becaufe you are to be a 
tradefman, you are not to learn the graces ! 

Thus they go on, Thomas representing wisdom 
and Harry folly, and though neither convinces the 
other, they make it very plain where the reader's 
sympathies ought to be. 

Another very successful book of Bingham's, pub- 
lished about a dozen years later than his Preceptor, 
was The Columbian Orator, a compilation of dia- 
logues and pieces suitable for declamation. Perhaps 



278 Old-time Schools and School-books 

nothing in the book more generally pleased or was 
oftener heard from the school platform than 



LINES SPOKEN AT A SCHOOL-EXHIBI- 
TION, BY A LITTLE BOY 
SEVEN YEARS OLD. 

YOU'D scarce expect one of my age, 
To speak in public, on the stage ; 
And if I chance to fall below 
Demosthenes or Cicero, 
Don't view me with a critic's eye, 
But pass my imperfections by. 
Large streams from little fountains flow; 
Tall oaks from little acorns grow : 
And though I now am small and young, 
Of judgment weak, and feeble tongue; 
Yet all great learned men, like me, 
Once learn'd to read their A, B, C. 
But why may not Columbia's soil 
Rear men as great as Britain's isle ; 
Exceed what Greece and Rome have done, 
Or any land beneath the sun ? 
Mavn't Massachusetts boast as great 
As any other sister state ? 
Or, where's the town, go far and near, 
That does not find a rival here ? 
Or where's the boy, but three feet high, 
Who's made improvements more than I ? 
These thoughts inspire my vouthful mind 
To be the greatest of mankind ; 
Great, not like Caesar, stain'd with blood ; 
But only great, as I am good. 



Advanced Readers 279 

In the extract below we get a glimpse of very 
primitive educational conditions. The book vouches 
for what is depicted as still true to life in some 
vicinities, though not nearly as applicable as for- 
merly. The scene is a public house. 

Enter School-Master, with a pack on his back. 

Schoolmaster. How fare you, landlord ? what have you 
got that's good to drink ? 

Landlord. I have gin, West-India, genuine New Eng- 
land, whiskey, and cider brandy. 

Schoolm. Make us a stiff mug of sling. Put in a gill and 
a half of your New England; and sweeten it well with 
lasses. 

Land. It shall be done, Sir, to your liking. 

Then the schoolmaster asks if the landlord knows 
of any vacancy in the local schools, and is informed 
they are without a master in that very district, and 
the three school-committeemen were to be at the 
tavern directly to consult on school matters. The 
landlord says the last master " was a tyrant of a 
fellow and very extravagant in his price. He grew 
so important the latter part of his time, that he had 
the frontery to demand ten dollars a month and his 
board." He never patronized the landlord's bar, 
and was always in his chamber of an evening "por- 
ing over his musty books." Finally the severity 
of his discipline roused the neighborhood, and he 
was hooted out of town. 

The three committeemen, accompanied by the 
parson, at length appeared at the tavern, and the 



280 Old-time Schools and School-books 



schoolmaster applies for a position. He acknowl- 
edges that he has never had more than a year's 
schooling, and that he knows nothing of geography 
or grammar, but he can read a newspaper without 
spelling more than half the words, and has " larn'd to 
write considerably, and to cypher as fur as Division." 
Most important of all, he will work for five dollars 
a month, and the committee hire him. The parson 
alone protests. 

By far the most copiously illustrated of any of 
the earlier readers was a thin i2mo published in 
Philadelphia in 1799, ca U e d The Columbian Reading 
Book, or Historical Preceptor," ^collection of Authentic 
Histories, Anecdotes, Characters, &c. &c. calculated 
to incite in young minds a love of virtue, from its 
intrinsic beauty, and a hatred of vice from its dis- 
gusting deformity." From the 164 short lessons I 
make several selections. 

Spirited Reproof of a Woman. 

PHILIP, rising 
from an entertain- 
ment at which he 
had sat for some 
hours, was ad- 
dressed b v a woman, 
who begged him to 
hear her cause. He 
accordingly heard 
t, and, upon her 
saying some things 

not pleasing to him, 
An Appeal to King Philip. , v & 

From The Columbian Reading Book, 1799. & ave sentence 




Advanced Readers 



2«I 



against her. The woman immediately, but very calmly, 
replied, " I appeal." " How," says Philip, " from your 
king? To whom then?" "To Philip when ' fasting," 
returned the woman. The manner in which he received 
this answer would do honour to the most sober prince. 
He afterwards gave the cause a second - hearing, found 
the injustice of his sentence, and condemned himself to 
make it good. 

Gasconade. 

A Gentleman of Gascony who inherited two thousand 
crowns a year from his father, commenced living at Paris, 
and being a gay 
volatile genius, 
soon squandered 
his fortune, and 
was reduced to the 
lowest ebb of 
wretchedness. 
Yet he never lost 
his spirit and cour- 
age ; but with the 
small pittance he 
had left, he pur- 
chased a mule and 
turned water-car- 
rier. Some time 
afterwards, as he was trafficking his merchandize up and down 
the streets, he happened to meet two of his old companions, 
who would have avoided him for fear of giving him pain, at 
being caught with such an equipage. But he sprang forward 
and saluted them with his usual freedom ; and, when they 
seemed to pity his ill fortune, briskly interrupted them by saying, 
" That he had forty thousand crowns worth of water in the 
Seine, but for want of servants, was obliged to sell it himself," 




A Meeting of Old Friends in the Streets of Paris. 
From The Columbian Reading Book. 



282 Old-time Schools and School-books 




A w 
Indian 
replied, 
you ? " 



The Clever Indian. 
From The Columbian Reading Book- 

The retort Courteous. 

hite man meeting an Indian asked him, ct whose 
are you ? " To which the copper-faced genius 
" I am God Almighty's' Indian : whose Indian are 



Philosophy an unfailing refuge. 




The Philosopher. 
r rom The Columbian Reading Book. 



ZENO, a phi- 
losopher of Cyprus, 
turning merchant 
for his better sup- 
port, was always un- 
fortunate by losses 
at sea, insomuch 
that he was reduced 
to one small vessel; 
and having advice 
that it was also cast 
away in the ocean, 
and nothing saved, 



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283 



he received the news with cheerfulness, saying, " O Fortune, 
thou hast acted wisely, in forcing me to throw off the rich 
attire of a merchant to put on the mean and despised habit 
of a scholar, and return me back to the school of phi- 
losophy, where there is nothing to lose, and the most satis- 
factory and durable things to be gained." 



Successful Bravery. 

Mr. GILLET, a French quarter-master, going home to 
his friends, had the good fortune to save the life of a young 
woman, attacked 
by two ruffians. 
He fell upon 
them, sabre in 
hand, unlocked the 
jaw of the first 
villain, who held a 
dagger to her 
breast, and at one 
stroke pared the 
nails of the other 
just above the 
wrist. Money 
was offered by the 
grateful parents ; 
he refused it ; they offered him their daughter, a young 
girl of 16, in marriage; the veteran, then in his 73rd 
year, declined, saying, " Do you think that I have rescued 
her from instant death, to put her to a lingering one, by 
coupling so lively a body with one worn out with age ? " 

Few of the early text-books enjoyed more favor 
than Stamford's The Art of Reading, Boston, 1807. 
The title-page says it contains "A variety of selected 




A Rescue. 

From The Columbian Reading Book- 



284 Old-time Schools and School-books 

and original pieces, Narrative, Didactic, Argumenta- 
tive, Poetical, Descriptive, Pathetic, Humorous, and 
Entertaining, together with Dialogues, Speeches, 
Orations, Addresses, and Harangues." The 
following is an example of what the book calls 
humorous : — 

AWKWARDNESS IN COMPANY. 

1. WHEN an awkward fellow first comes into a room, 
he attempts to bow, and his sword, if he wears one, gets 
between his legs, and nearly throws him down, Confused 
and ashamed, he stumbles to the upper end of the room, 
and seats himself in the very place where he should not. 
He there begins playing with his hat, which he presently 
drops; and recovering his hat, he lets fall his cane; and, 
in picking up his cane, down goes his hat again. Thus 
'tis a considerable time before he is adjusted. 

2. When his tea or coffee is handed to him, he spreads 
his handkerchief upon his knees, scalds his mouth, drops 
either the cup or saucer, and spills the tea or coffee in his 
lap. At dinner, he seats himself upon the edge of his chair, 
at so great a distance from the table, that he frequently 
drops his meat between his plate and his mouth; he holds 
his knife, fork, and spoon, differently from other people; 
eats with his knife to the manifest danger of his mouth ; 
and picks his teeth with his fork. 

3. If he is to carve he cannot hit the joint ; but, in 
laboring to cut through the bone, splashes the sause over 
every body's clothes. He generally daubs himself all over ; 
his elbows are in the next person's plate ; and he is up to 
the knuckles in soup and grease. If he drinks, 'tis with his 
mouth full, interrupting the whole company with, "To 
your good health, Sir," and " My service to you ; " perhaps 
coughs in his glass, and besprinkles the whole table. 



Advanced Readers 285 

4. He addresses the company by improper titles ; mis- 
takes one name for another ; and tells you of Mr. What 
d'ye call him, or you know who ; Mrs. Who'ist there, 
what's her name, or how d'ye call her; He begins a story; 
but, not being able to finish it, breaks off in the middle, 
with, " I've forgot the rest." 

I also reprint one of the dialogues. It is in- 
tended to illustrate the prejudices of the vulgar 
against academies. The participants in the con- 
versation are Old Trumpet, Goody Trumpet, and 
their son, Leander. 

Old Trumpet, alone. 

A plague and Satan confound such ignorance, says I ; 
what, the dog is ruin'd and undone for ever and for 'tarnally. 
Must I feed and pamper and lodge the puppy ? ay, ay, 
and send him to the Mackademy, and give him laming — 
and for what ? good Lord, for what ? O ! snakes, toads and 
dung worms ! O ! the Mackademy ! My son Len will 
be ruin'd ! 

Enter Goody Trumpet in haste. 

G. Trum. Well there now, husband, I can't, no nor I 
wont bear it any longer — for would you think it? our 
Leander is gone crazy, and's a fool, and melirious, and — 
and — 

Old T. Yes, yes, that's as clear as the sun — that I'll 
vow to any day. He's a fool, and a dog, and crazy, and 
— and — what was the word you us'd ? 

G. T. Pshaw ! you're a 'tarnal pesterment. You're too 
old to larn any thing but how to wear horns — 

Old T. No, no, that's a lie — I've larnt that a ready — 



286 Old-time Schools and School-books 

there's not a ram in the flock that wears horns more tre- 
mariously than I do. 

G. T. Ha, ha, ha, tremariously, O distravagant ! well, 
my son's a fool and my husband a jack-ass — but hark you, 
this chip o' yourn, this Mackademicianer, inserts that our 
tin quart is brim full, when I shook, and shook, and shook 
every atom, and morsel, and grain of beer out of it — and 
there was not a bit nor a jot in't any more than there is in 
his head, not a bit more. 

Old T. Ay, ay, I warrant ye, nothing more brovebler 

— yes, yes, and he told me about the dentity of pinticles 
in fire — and as how the proximation to fire made the 
sentiments of heat. Odd's buds ! he's ruin'd, he's un- 
done ! Well, well, I'll go to the Protector, (Preceptor) I'll 
pound him — I'll mawl him — I'll see if he'll make Len a 
fool again — 

G. T. Well, well, take him away, take him home, — 
I'll lain him. If you'll let him alone — I believe I can 
make him know a little something. But the conceptor ! 
I'll strip his head for him — I'll make it as bare as an egg 

— I'll pull his soul case out. 

Old T. Why good George ! I sent him to the mackad- 
emy to get laming. If this is laming, mv dog knows 
more than the Protector and the Mackademy besides. 

Enter Leander. 

Old T. How now, how now, coxcomb ! Why, Len, 
you're a fool ! You're crazy, you're inebrious, as your 
poor mother says. 

Leander. Sir, you know you have a right to command 
your own, but I think, Sir, that the abuse of such power 
is worse than the want of it. Have I, Sir, deserved such 
treatment ! 

Old T. Yes, you have reserved the gallows — ay, ay, 



Advanced Readers 287 

Len, you must be chained in a dark room and fed on 
bread and water — O the Mackademy ! 

Leander. You may arraign me, Sir, with impunity for 
faults which I in some instances have been guilty of — 
but my improvements in the liberal arts and sciences, have 
been, I believe, equal to most of my standing, and I am 
confident, Sir, that I have asserted nothing but what is 
consistent with the philosophy of our times. 

Old T. Your dosolophys may go to Beelzebub, and 
you may go with them, Sir, and be hang'd, Sir — O the 
Conceptor, and Mackademy may go to Beelzebub and be 
hang'd and they will ! Come home, Len, you sha'nt go 
there any more, you'll be ruin'd and undone for ever, and 
for 'tarnally ! 

A reader with a special purpose was The Mental 
Flower Garden, or an Instructive and Entertaining 
Companion for the Fair Sex, New York, 1808. It 
was full of sugar-coated wisdom and mild senti- 
ment as was befitting in a text-book for " female 
youth," and no effort was spared to use highly pol- 
ished and becoming language on all occasions. Its 
tone was very like that it recommended for " episto- 
lary writing — easy, genteel and obliging, with a choice 
of words which bear the most civil meaning, and a 
generous and good-natured complaisance." 

Scott's and Lindley Murray's readers were the 
only ones by English compilers to be widely circu- 
lated in this country. Murray's several readers 
continued in use until the middle of the nineteenth 
century. They were stupid-looking, fine-print vol- 
umes, full of profundity and never lapsed into the 
shallow amateurishness of some of our American 



288 Old-time Schools and School-books 

school-books. Yet the information imparted was 
occasionally rather peculiar, as for instance what is 
said about 

The Cataract of Niagara, in Canada, North America. 

This amazing fall of a hundred and fifty feet perpendicu- 
lar is made by the river St. Lawrence, one of the largest 
rivers in the world, a river that serves to drain the waters 
of almost all North America into the Atlantic Ocean. It 
will be readily supposed, that such a cataract entirely de- 
stroys the navigation of the stream : and yet some Indians 
in their canoes, it is said have ventured down it in safety. 



I reproduce from Scott's book one of four plates 
illustrating an introductory chapter, " On the speak- 
ing of Speeches at schools." The text advises — 

If the pupil's knees are not well formed, 
or incline inwards, he must be taught to 
keep his legs at as great a distance as pos- 
sible, and to incline his bodv so much to 
that side on which the arm is extended, as 
to oblige him to rest the opposite leg upon 
the toe; and this will in a great measure, 
hide the defect of his make. 

When the pupil has got in the habit of 
holding his hand and arm properly, he may 
be taught to move it, that is, to raise the 
arm in the same position as when grace- 
fully taking ofF the hat. (See Plate.) 
When the hand approaches to the head, 
the arm should, with a jerk, be suddenly 
straightened, at the very moment the em- 
phatical word is pronounced. This co- 




The Speaker. 

From Scott's Lessons I 
Elocution, 1814. 
Reduced one-half. 



Advanced Readers 289 

incidence of the hand and voice, will greatly enforce the 
pronunciation. 



Below is a part of one of the lighter pieces 
The Common Reader, by T. Strong, A.M., Green 
field, Massachusetts, 181 8. 



in 




The Flower Girl. 

From Strong's The Common Reader, 1818. 

Reduced one-third. 

THE FLOWER GIRL. 

" Pray buy a nosegay of a poor orphan ! " said a female 
voice, in a plaintive and melodious tone, as I was passing 
the corner of the Hay-market. I turned hastily and beheld 
a girl about fourteen, whose drapery, though ragged, was 
clean, and whose form was such as a painter might have 
chosen for a youthful Venus. 

Her neck, without colouring, was white as snow; and 
her features, though not regularly beautiful, were interesting, 
u 



290 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



and set off by a transparent complexion ; her eyes, dark 
and intelligent, were shaded by loose ringlets of a raven 
black, and poured their supplicating beams through the 
silken shade of very long lashes. 

On one arm hung a basket full of roses, and the other 
was stretched out towards me with one of the rose buds. 
I put my hand into my pocket and drew out some silver — 
" take this, my pretty girl," said I. 

The narrator added some kindly and highly moral 
remarks for her benefit, and she caught his hand and 

burst into a flood of tears. The actions and the look 
touched my soul ; it melted, and a drop of sympathy fell 
from my cheek. 

" Forgive me, Sir," said she, while a blush diffused itself 
over her lovely face. "You will pardon me when I tell you 
they were the first kind words I have heard since I lost all 
that was dear to me on earth." 

" Can I leave this poor creature ? " said I, pensively. 
" Shall I quit thee, fair flower, to be blown down by the 
rude blast of adversitv ! to droop thy lovely head beneath 
the blight of early sorrow ! No ! thou hast once bloomed 
beneath the cheerful sun of domestic content, and under it 
thou shalt bloom again." 

My heart beat with its sweet purpose, and the words of 
triumphant virtue burst from my lips. " Come, thou lovely 
deserted girl ! come and add one more to the happy group 
who call me father ! thou shalt be taught with them that 
virtue which their father tries to practice." 

Her eyes flashed with frantic joy ; she flung herself on 
her knees before me. I raised her in my arms; I hushed 
her eloquent gratitude, and led her to a home of happiness 
and piety ; and the poor orphan of the Hay-market is now 
the partner of my son ! 




Advanced Readers 291 

The scene of this story is one of the busiest parts 
of London ; but the illustration which accompanies 
it shows a New 
England country 
road, with three 
curious little loads 
of hay standing in 
a wayside field to 
suggest a hay-mart. 

it • 1 The Catamountain. 

Here is a lesson 

, . 1 From The Improved Reader, 1827. 

which purports to 

have been written by a Missourian. It is from 

Pierpont's The National Reader, Boston, 1827. 

The Worm. 

Who has not heard of the rattle-snake or copperhead ! 
An unexpected sight of either of these reptiles will make 
even the lords of creation recoil : but there is a species of 
worm found in various parts of this state, which conveys a 
poison of a nature so deadly, that, compared with it, even 
the venom of the rattlesnake is harmless. To guard our 
readers against this foe of human kind, is the object of this 
communication. 

This worm varies much in size. It is frequently an 
inch through, but, as it is rarely seen, except when coiled, 
its length can hardly be conjectured. It is of a dull leaden 
colour, and generally lives near a spring or small stream of 
water, and bites the unfortunate people, who are in the 
habit of going there to drink. The brute creation it never 
molests. They avoid it with the same instinct that teaches 
the animals of Peru to shun the deadly coya. 

Several of these reptiles have long infested our settle- 
ments, to the misery and destruction of many of our fellow- 



292 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



citizens. I have, therefore, had frequent opportunities of 
being the melancholy spectator of the effects produced by 
the subtle poison which the worm infuses. 

The symptoms of its bite are terrible. The eyes of the 
patient become red and fiery, his tongue swells to an im- 
moderate size, and obstructs his utterance ; and delirium 
of the most horrid character, quickly follows. Sometimes, 
in his madness, he attempts the destruction of his nearest 
friends. 

If the sufferer has a family, his weeping wife and help- 
less infants are not unfrequently the objects of his frantic 
fury. In a word, he exhibits all the detestable passions 
that rankle in the bosom of a savage ; and such is the 
spell in which his senses are locked, that, no sooner has 
the unhappy patient recovered from the paroxysm of insan- 
ity, occasioned by the bite, than he seeks out the destroyer^ 
for the sole purpose of being bitten again. 

I have seen a good old father, his locks as white as snow, 
his steps slow and trembling, beg in vain his only son to quit 
the lurking place of the worm. My heart bled when he 
turned away ; for I knew the fond hope, that his son would 
be the " staff of his declining years," had supported him 
through many a sorrow. 

Youths of Missouri, would you know the name of this 
reptile? It is called the Worm of the Still. 

The next selection is from The General Class-Book, 
Greenfield, Massachusetts, 1828. 

Dialogue between Mrs. Lackwit > Mrs. Goodsense, etc. 

Mrs. Lackwit. Scat you little beast ! See that kitten. 
She has been patting my ball of yarn, and rolling it all over 
the floor, till it is half unwound. There, take that box in 
the ear, and learn better manners. 



Advanced Readers 293 

Caroline. Poor kitten ! I am afraid, mother, you 
have hurt her. 

Mrs. L. Hurt her ? I meant to, and I wish I had 
killed her. 

Now that robin sets up his tune, which I suppose we 
must hear till sunset. The old rooster too must come 
and crow like thunder at the very door, so that I cannot 
hear myself speak ; and to crown all, somebody has let the 
calves into the yard, and there they are galloping and rac- 
ing over the table-cloths, which I had laid out to bleach. 
O, what a world we live in. 

Caroline, cannot you be still ? Do mind your needle. 
Surely we have noise enough without your singing or 
playing. 

Car. Dear mother, I am afraid you are not well. Does 
your head ake ? 

Mrs. L. No; but my ears ake; and my heart akes. 

Mrs. Goodsense. My dear Mrs. Lackwit, as your children 
have been confined six hours in school to-day, would it not 
be well to let them go and play a little while in the yard ? 

Mrs. L. No ; the girls would be tanned, and become 
black as negroes, and the boys would be more noisy than 
ever. Mrs. Goodsense, how can you live with your eight 
children ? I have only four, and it often seems as if I 
should be distracted. 

Then Mrs. Goodsense explains and advises, and 
finally, Mrs. Lackwit concludes she will follow her 
neighbor's example. 

One book of a very unusual sort was Comstock's 
Rhythmical Reader, Philadelphia, 1832. While the 
latter half is not unlike other books of its class, the 
earlier pages are an appalling mass of cabalistic signs. 
It is an endeavor by a system of notation to treat 



294 Old-time Schools and School-books 

discourse like music, and to teach how to read with 
perfect ease and rhythm. 

PART OF THE EPISCOPAL BURIAL SERVICE. 
FROM THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER. 



Rather slow. 




l| Y Y Y 1 Y*Y' 1 
| I am the | res ur- | 


V Y* 1 r Y Y 1 ? i- 
rection | and the | life, 


? Y 1 ?' I--I 
saith the | Lord ; 1 


Y* 1 Y 1 Y Y Yl ? «■ 
he that be- 1 lieveth in | me, 


Y Y Y 1 ? 
though he were | dead, 


<• 1 V 1 Y 1 ? r- 
j yet shall he 1 live ; 



Specimen Lines. 
From Comstock's The Rhythmical Reader, 1832. 

Another unusual reader of about the same date 
was The Christian Reader ', a stout volume, entirely 
made up of tracts, except for a half-dozen hymns 
inserted at the end. 

Still another peculiar reader was The Farmer s 
School-Book^ Albany, 1837, " published to take the 
place of such useless, unintelligible reading as Mur- 
ray's English Reader ; and other readers in common 
use, which never give the children one useful idea 
for the practical business of life." The book con- 
veys a good deal of information, but I am afraid 
the author was disappointed in his expectation that 
" Chymistry, The Nature of Manures, Raising 
Calves, Making and Preserving Cheese," and simi- 
lar topics which filled out the list of chapters would 



Advanced Readers 295 

"seize the feelings and get the attention of every 
child that is learning to read." 




A Picture. 

From Emerson's The Second-class Reader, 1833, illustrating a popular poem which 
began : 

You are old, Father William, the young man cried, 
The few locks which are left you are gray ; 

You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man ; 
Now tell me the reason, I pray. 

In the days of my youth, Father William replied, 

I remembered that youth would fly fast, 
And abused not my health and my vigor at first, 

That 1 never might need them at last. 

A volume of more than ordinary interest was The 
Monitorial Reader, Concord, New Hampshire, 1839, 
and from it I make a number of excerpts. 



That Red Stuff. 

Father, said a little boy, in the lisping accents of youth, 
what is that red stuff you have just been drinking, and 



296 Old-time Schools and School-books 

which makes you wink so ? What do you call it ? Hush, 
my son, it is medicine. This inquiry was put by a sweet 
looking child, as I was entering the door of a grocery to 
purchase a few articles for my family. 

The tradesman had just drained his glass, and leaning on 
a cask, in which was burned the word Brandy, was wiping 
his mouth on the sleeve of his coat ; while the little one 
stood watching his motions with a sweet affectionate look 
of the son, blended with the curiosity and simplicity of 
childhood. " Excuse me," said I, " but oh, tell your inno- 
cent reprover, that it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an 
adder. Deceive him not." 

The man looked abashed and with a private admonition, 
I left him. 

The lesson closes with appropriate comments, but 
what the drinker did is not stated. 





IHI 


1 






^liiil 





Sir Nicholas Gimcrack who "spread himself out on a large table, and 

placing before him a bason of water with a frog in it, he struck with 

his arms and legs as he observed the animal do." Thus he learned 

" to swim on dry land; but he never ventured himself in the water." 

From The Intelligent Reader, 1834. 



Advanced Readers 



•97 




A Retired Sailor " instructing his sister's grand-children." 
From Adams's The Monitorial Reader, 1 839. 



Borrowing. 

" My dear," said Mrs. Green to her husband one morn- 
ing, " the meal we borrowed from Mr. Black a few days 
ago, is almost out, and we must bake to-morrow." 

"Well," said her husband, "send and borrow a bushel 
at Mr. White's ; he sent to mill yesterday." 

" And when it comes, shall we return the peck we bor- 
rowed more than a month ago from the widow Grey ? " 

" No," said the husband gruffly, " she can send for it 
when she wants it. John do you go down to Mr. Brown's 
and ask him to lend me his axe to chop some wood this 
forenoon ; ours is quite dull, and I saw him grinding his 
last night. And James, do you go to Mr. Clark's, and 



298 Old-time Schools and School-books 

ask him to lend me a hammer — and you may as well bor- 
row a few nails, while you are about it." 

A little boy now enters and says, " Father sent me to 
ask if you had done with his hoe, which you borrowed a 
week ago last Wednesday ; he wants to use it." 

" Wants his hoe, child ? What can he want with it ? 
I have not half done with it. Tell him to send it back, 
though, as soon as he can spare it." 

They sit down to breakfast. " O la ! " exclaims Mrs. 
Green, "there is not a particle of butter in the house — 
James, run over to Mrs. Notable's, she always has excel- 
lent butter in her dairy, and ask her to lend me a plateful." 

After a few minutes James returns ; " Mrs. Notable 
says she has sent you the butter, but begs you to remember, 
that she has already lent you nineteen platefuls, which are 
scored on the dairy door." 

" Nineteen platefuls," exclaimed the astonished Mrs. 
Green, holding up both her hands; "it is no such thing — 
I never had half that quantity ; and if I had, what is a little 
plateful of butter ? I should never think of keeping an 
account of such a trifling affair — I declare, I have a great 
mind never to borrow any thing of that mean creature 
again, as long as I live." 

The narrative goes on to relate other borrowing 
episodes in the Green family, and closes with the 
statement that — 

After all, the lowest, the most degraded class of bor- 
rowers, are Newspaper Borrowers ; fellows who have 
not soul enough to subscribe for a newspaper, yet long to 
know its contents ; who watch with lynx-eyed vigilance 
for the arrival of the mail, and when their more generous 
neighbor receives his paper, send their boys with messages 
like the following. 



Advanced Readers 299 

" Mr. Borrowall wishes you would be kind enough to 
lend him your paper for one minute. There is something 
particular in it, that he wants to see; he'll send it back 
before you want to read it." 



The Pot of Baked Beans. 

O ! how my heart sighs for my own native land, 

Where potatoes and squashes and cucumbers grow; 
Where cheer and good welcome are always at hand, 
And custards and pumpkin pies smoke in a row ; 
Where pudding the visage of hunger serenes, 
And what is far dearer, the pot of bak'd beans. 

Let Maryland boast of her dainties profuse, 

And large water-melons, and cantelopes fine ; 
Her turtle and oysters, and terrapin stews, 

And soft crab high zested with brandy and wine ; 
Ah ! neither my heart from my native land weans ; 
Where smokes on the table the pot of bak'd beans. 

The pot of bak'd beans ! with what pleasure I saw it, 

Well season'd, well pork'd by some rosy fac'd dame ; 
And when from the glowing hot oven she'd draw it, 
Well crisp'd and well brown'd to the table it came ; 
O, give me my country, the land of my teens, — 
Of the dark Indian pudding, and pot of bak'd beans. 

The pot of bak'd beans ! Ah, the muse is too frail, 

Its taste to descant on, its virtues to tell ; 
But look at the sons of New-England so hale, 

And her daughters so rosy — 'twill teach thee full well 
Like me it will teach thee to sigh for the means 
Of health, and of rapture ! — the pot of bak'd beans. 



3<do Old-time Schools and School-books 




Making the Prelimi- 
nary Bow to the 
Audience. 

From Lovell's The Young 
Speaker, 1844. 

dent respect, ove 



The most interesting feature of 
Lovell's The Young Speaker - , New 
Haven, 1 844, was the numerous pic- 
tures. The book, as a whole, was 
planned for a school reader, but it 
was the purpose of the pictures to 
" inculcate the art of graceful and 
eloquent gesture." The first of the 
two engravings reproduced 

presents the side view of a boy making 
his bow before an audience. With a 
gentle but assured step, he approaches to 
near the front of the platform, a little on 
the right of the centre, then pausing for a 
moment, he casts his eyes with a diffi- 
r the audience ; slides out his left foot 

on the toe, in a straight line ; then supporting the body on 

that foot, he draws in the right foot until its heel comes 

into the middle or hollow of the left 

foot ; he then presses his legs to- 
gether, and dropping his eyes / 

modestly to the floor, brings his I 

body into a slight and graceful \ 

curve, the arms hanging perfectly \ 

free. In this posture the body is 

kept for an instant ; he then rises 

slowly to an erect attitude, and is 

ready to commence speaking. 

The second cut indicates 
how to express " painful ob- 
servation, surprise, alarmed 

r . . ... ,, An Expressive Attitude. 

compassion, and the like. ^Loveu-.7*n* v .*«*r. 




XI 

ARITHMETIC 

MOST teachers, even in the days of the first 
settlers, gave some instruction in mathe- 
matics, but it was a long time before such 
instruction was made obligatory. In Massachusetts 
only reading and writing were required in the ele- 
mentary schools until the enactment of a law in 
1789, which said there must also be arithmetic, the 
English language, orthography, and decent behavior. 
Of these added requirements the first was generally 
felt to be of the most practical importance, and a 
reputation as an "arithmeticker " was to any teacher 
a valuable asset. Nothing was more likely to assist 
a man in getting a school than the ability to do any 
sum in arithmetic. To be "-great in figures " was 
to be learned. 

Books by native writers in all departments had 
begun to supersede those imported from England, 
and in place of Hodder's and Dilworth's Arithmetics, 
the famous treatise by Nicholas Pike of Newbury- 
port, published in that town in 1788, gained wide 
acceptance — an acceptance aided, no doubt, by the 
flattering testimonials it received from George Wash- 
ington and other dignitaries. It was a pretentious 
8vo of 512 pages with a range almost encyclopaedic, 
and it served to give tone to all the arithmetic study 
30 x 



302 Old-time Schools and School-books 

of the early district-school period. Rules were om- 
nipresent in it. There was indeed a rule for nearly 
every page, and many of them were calculated to 
tax the understanding of a pupil severely to grasp 
their meaning. Some of the problems, too, re- 
quired for their mastery a great deal of genuine 
mathematical capacity. 

A majority of the district-school pupils, includ- 
ing practically all the girls, ciphered only through 
the four fundamentals of addition, subtraction, mul- 
tiplication, and division, with a short excursion into 
vulgar fractions. They won distinction among their 
mates if they penetrated into the mysteries of the 
Rule of Three ; and to cipher through " Old Pike " 
was to be accounted a prodigy. 

The manuscript of this first American arithmetic 
was ready in 1785, and after the manner of early 
school-book authors, both in this country and in 
England, " Nicholas Pike, Esq.," submitted it in 
that form to various worthies to get their opinions 
as to its merits. They responded with polite com- 
mendations, which, as was usual, were printed in the 
book. For many years after the volume was issued, 
it held the foremost place among text-books of its 
class. A preface in 1793 to an abridged edition, es- 
pecially prepared for use in the public schools, speaks 
of the larger book as " That celebrated work, which 
is now ufed as a claffical book in all the Newengland 

FT • f • » 

Univerlities. 

Here are a few items from the table of contents 
that will give some idea of the ground Pike attempted 
to cover : — - 



Arithmetic 303 

Extraction of the Biquadrate Root 
Penfions in Arrears at Simple Intereft 
Barter 

Alligation Medial 
Of Pendulums 
A Perpetual Almanac 

To find the Time of the Moon's Southing 
Table of the Dominical Letters according to the Cycle 
of the Sun 

To find the Year of Indiction 

Table to find Eafter from the year 1753 to 4199 

Plain Oblique Angular Trigonometry 

To meafure a Rhombus 

To gauge a maf h Tub 

The Proportions and Tonnage of Noah's Ark. 

Congress established " Federal money " on the 
decimal plan in 1786; but twenty years elapsed be- 
fore its use became at all general, and Pike treats 
it as something of a curiosity. English money was 
our standard. In that denomination accounts were 
kept, and until after the first decade of the nineteenth 
century, it continued to have prominent place in our 
arithmetics. Coins of many kinds were current dur- 
ing the early years of the republic, and the school 
children had to learn the comparative value of these 
moneys. Besides Federal money, there were four 
varying currencies issued by the individual states. 
Then there were English and Irish coins, and the 
Continental Johannes, Pistoles, Moidores, Doub- 
loons, etc. The labor involved in the computation 
of ordinary business transactions at this period was 
appalling. 



304 Old-time Schools and School-books 

I have mentioned the Rule of Three. It was 
recognized as an arithmetical landmark and I give 
Pike's definition : — 

The Rule of Three teacheth, by having three numbers 
given, to find a fourth, that fhall have the fame proportion 
to the third, as the fecond to the firft. 

This is sufficiently clear ; but some of the book's 
explanations are quite unintelligible to the present 
generation, as for instance : — 

When tare^ and tret and cloff are allowed. 

Deduct the tare and tret, and divide the futtle by 168, 
and the quotient will be the cloff, which fubtract from the 
futtle, and the remainder will be the neat. 

One fails to make any sense out of such a jumble 
until he reads the definitions appended to it. 

Tare is an allowance, made to the buyer, for the weight 
of the box, barrel, or bag which contains the goods bought. 

Tret is an allowance of 4 ft) in every 104 ft) for wafte, 
duft, &c. 

Cloff is an allowance of 2ft) upon every 3 cwt. 

Suttle is, when part of the allowance is deducted. 

Neat weight is what remains after all allowances are 
made. 

Another rule that has an equally unfamiliar sound 
to modern ears is this : — 

To find the Gregorian Epact. 

Subtract 1 1 from the Julian Epact : If the fubtraction 
cannot be made, add 30 to the Julian Epact ; then fubtract, 



Arithmetic 305 

and the remainder will be the Gregorian Epact ; if nothing 
remain, the Epact is 29. 

In the tables of weights and measures are Wine 
Measure and Ale or Beer Measure in good and 
regular standing among the rest. These were gen- 
erally included in all the early school arithmetics. 
Cloth Measure, as Pike gives it, consists chiefly of 
Nails, and Ells Flemish, Ells English, and Ells 
French; Long Measure starts with "3 Barleycorns 
make 1 inch ; " and in Dry Measure we find " 2 
Quarts make 1 Pottle, 2 Bufhels make 1 Strike, 
2 Strikes make 1 Coom, 2 Cooms make 1 Quarter, 
4 Quarters make 1 Chaldron, 5 Quarters make 1 
Wey, 2 Weys make 1 Laft." Trie following para- 
graph shows the interesting manner in which the 
author expressed himself when he had a problem to 
propound : — 

An ignorant fop wanting to purchafe an elegant houfe, 
a facetious gentleman told him he had one which he would 
fell him on thefe moderate terms, viz. that he fhould give 
him a penny for the firft door, id. for the fecond, \d. for 
the third, and fo on, doubling at every door, which were 36 
in all : It is a bargain, cried the f impleton, and here is a 
guinea to bind it ; Pray, what would the houfe have coft 
him ? Anf. ^286331153 is. 3d. 

A small book much used in the old schools was 
An Introduction to Arithmetic ', by Erastus Root, Nor- 
wich, Connecticut, 1796. Queerly enough, it omits 
fractions, " not becaufe I think them ufelefs," the 
author explains in his preface, " but becaufe they are 
not abfolutely neceffary." He gives unusual space 



306 Old-time Schools and School-books 

as compared with other arithmetics of the time to 
the recently adopted decimal " Federal Money," of 
which he says : — 

It is expected that before many years f hall elapfe, this 
method of reckoning will become general throughout the 
United States. Let us, I beg of you, Fellow-Citizens, no 
longer meanly follow the Britil'h intricate mode of reck- 
oning. — Let them have their own way — and us, ours. — 
Their mode is fuited to the genius of the government — for 
it feems to be the policy of tyrants, to keep their accounts 
in as intricate, and perplexing a method as poffible ; that 
the fmaller number of their fubjects may be able to eftimate 
their enormous impofitions and exactions. But Republi- 
can money ought to be fimple and adapted to the meaneft 
capacity. This mode of reckoning may feem a little odd 
at firft, but when the coins of the United States come into 
circulation, it will foon become familiar. 




Copperplate Engraving on the Title-page of Sarjeant's Arithmetic, 1788. 

Below are two of the shorter problems in the 
book : — 



Arithmetic 307 

What is the difference between fix dozen dozen and 
half a dozen dozen ? Anf. 792. 

What is the difference between twice twenty-five and 
twice five, and twenty ? Anf. 20. 

From a similar book, The ToutKs Assistant: 
" Being a plain, Eafy, and Comprehenfive Guide to 
Practical Arithmetic," published in the same town 
as Root's and at about the same time, I quote this 
problem illustrative of old-time travel from tavern 
to tavern : — 

I demand the diftance from the Town-houfe in Norwich, 
to Bull's in Hartford; fuppofing it to be nine miles from 
faid Town-houfe to Aldin's in Lebanon, from Aldin's to 
White's Andover fourteen, from White's to Marfh's Eaft 
Hartford twelve, from Marfh's Eaft Hartford to Benjamin's 
ditto three, from Benjamin's to Bull's two ? 

Anfwer, 40 miles. 

A book that rivalled " Old Pike " in popularity 
was the Arithmetic by Daniel Adams published in 
1 801. It had large pages, and on these was blank 
space after each problem for the student to record 
the process of solution. The preface advises that 
the operation should be " first wrought upon a slate 
or waste paper," and afterward transcribed. 

Another popular early arithmetic was Nathan 
Daboll's Schoolmaster s Assistant^ and I quote from 
it the several problems which follow : — 

Divide \\ gallons of brandy equally among 144 soldiers. 

Am. 1 gill a-piece. 

How much shalloon that is | yard wide, will line 5I yards 

of camblet which is 1^ yard wide? Ans. 16-^ yds. 



308 Old-time Schools and School-books 

If a pistareen be worth 14J pence, what are 100 pista- 
reens worth ? Ans. £6. 

A privateer of 65 men took a prize which being equally 
divided among them, amounted to 119 1. per man ; what is 
the value of the prize? Ans. £jJ25- 

Seven gentlemen met at an inn, and were so well pleased 
with their host, and with each other, that they agreed to 
tarry so long as they together with their host, could sit every 
day in a different position at dinner ; how long must they 
have staid at said inn to have fulfilled their agreement ? 

Ans. 110JH years. 

A, B and C, playing at cards, staked 324 crowns; but 
disputing about tricks, each man took as many as he could ; 
A got a certain number ; B as many as A and 15 more ; C 
got a fifth part of both their sums added together : how 
much did each get? Ans. A 127^, B 142^, C 54. 

If to my age there added be, 
One-half, one-third, and three times three, 
Six score and ten the sum will be ; 
What is my age, pray shew it me ? 

Ans. 66. 

Problems from Walsh's Mercantile Arithmetic, 
Northampton, Massachusetts, 1807: — 

If 8 boarders drink a barrel of cider in 12 days, how 
long would it laft if 4 more came among them ? 

Anf. 8 davs. 

Three boys, John, James and William, buv a lottery 
ticket for 3 dols. of which John pays 90 cts. James I dol. 
and William the remainder. This ticket is entitled to a 
prize of 2000 dollars, fubject to a deduction of 12* per 
cent, how much is each to receive? Anf. John 525 dols. 
James 583 dols. 33^ cts. William 641 dols. 66| cts. 



Arithmetic 309 

What length of cord will fit to tie to a cow's tail, the 
other end fixed in the ground, to let her have liberty of eat- 
ing an acre of grafs, and no more, fuppofing the cow and 
tail to be five yards and a half? Anf. 6,136 perches. 

A certain perfon married his daughter on new year's day 
and gave her hufband one fhilling towards her portion, 
promifing to double it on the firft day of every month for 
one year; what was her portion ? Anf. £. 204 i$f. 

How much will 10 ferons of cochineal come to weigh- 
ing neat 724 okes 73 rotolas, at 80 piaftres per oke ? 

Anf. 57978,40 piaftres. 
How much will 189 bazar mauds 31 feer 8 chittacks of 
fugar come to, at 6 rupees per maud ? 

Anf. 1 1 38 rupees, 11 annas, 6 pice. 

The last two examples deal with foreign weights, 
measures, and money terms under the head of 
Exchange. The several selections below are from 
Thompson's The American Tutor s Guide, Albany, 
1808 : — 

A man overtaking a maid driving a flock of geese, said 
to her, how do you do, sweetheart ? Where are you going 
with these 100 geese? No Sir, said she, 1 have not 100 ; 
but if I had as many, half as many, and seven geese and a 
half, I should have 100 : How many had she? Ans. 37. 

A person was 17 years of age 29 years since, and sup- 
pose he will be drowned 23 years hence : Pray in what 
year of his age will this happen ? Ans. In his 6gtb year. 

The illustration on the next page is one of eight 
little cuts that helped to elucidate problems in square 
root. No other arithmetic up to this time had em- 
ployed any cuts save very formal diagrams. 



310 Old-time Schools and School-books 

In the midst of a meadow, y^"^ ^"""S. 

Well stored with grass , / y. 

I've taken just two acres, / (Sfip§^*A 

To tether my a6s : j JSJnsJ 

Then how bng must the cord be, \ / 

That feeding all round ; V y 

He mayn't graze less or more, than ^y ^ ^ / 

Two acres of ground. Ans 55 j yaro [^ 

An Illustrated Problem. 
From Thompson's The American Tutor's Guide, 1808. 

Here is an example from The Science of Numbers 
made Easy, by Leonard Loomis, Hartford, 1 8 1 6. 
The hero of it not only was well supplied with 
money, but had his cash very picturesquely dis- 
tributed about his person. 

Harry told Thomas, that he had got 580,50 cts. (Bank 
Bills) in his hat, and he had got twice as much in his pocket 
book; besides 15,23 cts. silver money in his purse, and 
four cents that had slipped out of his pocket into his boot ; 
pray tell me if you can, how much money he had ? 

Am. 1756,77 cts. 

From The Scholar s Arithmetic, by Jacob Willetts, 
Poughkeepsie, New York, 18 17 : — 

When hens are 9 shillings a dozen, what will be the 
price of 6 dozen of eggs, at 2 cents for 3 eggs ? 

Am. 48 cts. 

If the posterity of Noah, which consisted of six persons 
at the flood, increased so as to double their number in 20 
years, how many inhabitants were in the world two years 
before the death of Shem, who lived 502 years after the 
flood? Am. 201,326,586. 



Arithmetic 3 1 1 

When first the marriage knot was ty'd 

Between my wife and me, 
My age was to that of my bride, 

As three times three to three. 
But now when ten, and half ten years 

We man and wife have been, 
Her age to mine exactly bears, 

As eight is to sixteen ; 
Now tell, I pray, from what I've said, 

What were our ages when we wed ? 
. j Thy age, when marry'd must have been 
(Just forty-five: thy wife's fifteen. 

A workman was hired for 40 days upon this condition, 
that he should receive 20 cts. for every day he wrought, 
and should forfeit 10 cts. for every day he was idle; at 
settlement he received 5 dollars : How many days did he 
work and how many days was he idle ? Ans. wrought 
30 days, idle 10. 

The most remarkable thing about the above 
example in the extreme moderateness of the man's 
charge. It seems rather severe to require a forfeit 
from a man who is working at twenty cents a day. 

A large volume " containing Vulgar, Decimal/and 
Logarithmical Arithmetick," by Beriah Stevens, was 
published at "Saratoga Springs" in 1822 with a 
special claim to attention, by reason of a process it 
introduced for proving the correctness of one's 
figuring, and which it called " casting out the nines." 
I reprint the directions for proving subtraction. 

Cast the nines out of the minuend, and note down the 
excess above the nines on a cross ; then cast the nines 



3 I2 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



out of the subtrahend and note the excess as before; lastly 
cast the nines out of the remainder, and add the excess 
last found, and the excess of the subtrahend together, and 
if the sum of both be equal to the excess found in the 
minuend the work is allowed to be right. 

An efficient force in raising the standard of mathe- 
matical instruction was the publication of Warren 
Colburn's Intellectual Arithmetic in 1821. Pre- 
viously all arithmetic had been scarcely intelligible 
ciphering; but Colburn gives a multitude of simple 
problems to be done mentally. These cultivated 
quick comprehension and accuracy, and made it 
easy to apply what was acquired to the affairs of 
everyday life. The best teachers lost no time in 
putting the book into use, and it determined the 
character of all subsequent text-books. From the 
very first, its sale was prodigious, and during 
the next half century more than two million copies 
were circulated. 

Among the books patterned more or less closely 
after Colburn's was a little volume called the Franklin 
Arithmetic, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1832. This 
had a moral purpose, and proposed to improve on 
the other works then in vogue by the use of "ques- 
tions, the solution of which will convey to the mind 
some important truth. It seems rather out of place 
for a teacher to sit down with a pupil to calculate 
the gain or loss on the sale of gin, or lottery tickets. 
In one of our excellent and popular books on mathe- 
matical science, there are two or three questions 
which the scholar cannot solve without knowing 



Arithmetic 313 

how many cards there are in a pack." To show 
how the book is made interesting and enlightening, 
I quote rather freely : - — 

How many letters in the word JOHN ? 

How many in the word SMITH ? 

How many letters in both names, JOHN and SMITH ? 

How many hands have a boy and a clock ? 

In eighteen hundred and thirty-one, 119'persons died of 
drunkenness in New York, and 137 in Philadelphia; how 
many in both ? 

Hudson's Bay was discovered 10 years before the settle- 
ment at Plymouth, and Bagdad was taken by the Turks 
18 years after; how long a time passed between ? 

Take E from the word HOPE, and how many letters 
would be left ? and what would it be then ? 

A man had seven children ; two of them were killed by 
the fall of a tree ; how many had he left ? 

A boy played three days in a week ; how many did he 
work ? 

Four rivers ran through the garden of Eden, and one 
through Babylon ; how many more ran through Eden than 
Babylon ? 

Judas, one of the twelve apostles, hung himself; how 
many were there left ? 

John Baptist was beheaded after Christ 32 years, and 
the book of Revelation was written in 87 ; how long after 
John was beheaded ? 

Adam was 930 years old when he died, and 130 when 
Seth was born ; how old was Seth when Adam died ? 

Miss Fanny Woodbury was born in 1791, and died in 
1 8 14; Miss Hannah Adams lived to to be 53 years older; 
how old was Hannah Adams ? 

" Adonibezek said, 3 score and 10 kings, having their 
thumbs and their great toes cut off, gather their meat 



314 Old-time Schools and School-books 

under my table" (Judges i. 7.); how many thumbs and 
toes did Adonibezek cut off"? 

At Surat is a hospital for sick animals, in which there 
is a tortoise that has been there 75 years ; what is 3 eights 
of the number ? 

The Baltimore rail-road cars run 12 miles an hour; 
what is | of it ? 

A human body, if baked until all moisture is evaporated, 
is reduced in weight as 1 to 10 ; a body that weighs 100 
pounds living, will weigh how much when dry ? 

The book closes with an appendix of biographical 
paragraphs containing facts relating to persons re- 
ferred to in the problems. The paragraphs are of 
this sort : — 

Homer lived in Greece about 3 thousand years ago ; he 
was a school teacher and a poet. He wrote two poems, 
one called the Iliad, which is an exhibition of bodily 
strength ; the other called the Odyssey, which is an ex- 
hibition of the strength of the mind. 

William Shakespeare is distinguished as a writer of 
dialogues. He lived in England; when a boy, he fell in 
company with bad boys, who stole some deer, and were 
punished ; he was obliged to leave home ; he went to Lon- 
don, and brought himself into notice by taking so good 
care of the horses of those that came to the theatre. 

Alexander the Great was a great warrior ; he con- 
quered the world, and wept because there were no more 
worlds to conquer. He then gave himself up to dissipa- 
tion, and died in a fit of debauch. 

Miss Fanny Woodbury died in Beverly, Mass. She 
was an eminently pious young lady. Her life is printed, 
and is a very interesting book for young ladies to read. 



Arithmetic 



3*5 



Miss Hannah Adams was a native of Massachusetts. 
She had a feeble constitution, and never went to school 
much ; she studied and read by herself, and acquired much 
knowledge. 

5. One stage has four horses. How many horses have 
two stages/ 



6. Then 2 times 4, or twice 4 are how many 1 

7. Here are three boats, and each boat contains three 
men. How many men in all ? 



8. 3 times 3 are how many 1 

Part of a Page. 



From Barnard's .4 Treatise on Arithmetic, 1830. 



The earliest arithmetic I have seen that used 
pictures as an aid to. beginners was Barnard's, pub- 
lished at Hartford in 1830. The book claimed to 
be " rendered entertaining to the pupil by a great 
variety of amusing problems." Some of these took 
the form of a continued story, as : — 

1. John made 3 marks on one leaf of his book, and 
six on another. How many marks did he make ? 

2. His teacher punished him, for soiling the book, by 
giving him 4 blows on one hand, and 5 on the other. 
How many blows did he strike him ? 

3. 7 boys laughed at him on one side of the house, 
when he was punished, and 2 on the other. How many 
boys laughed ? 



3 1 6 Old-time Schools and School-books 



See this flock of black-birds : they have lighted 
upon the bars of a gate, and are all singing together. 
Find how many there are on each separate bar. 




An Illustration. 
From Lesson First of Emerson's The North American Arithmetic. Part First, 1838. 



The pictures were confined to the early lessons 
in the first pages, and the book as a whole was 
designed for the older pupils. We had no primary 
arithmetics until 1838, when Emerson's The North 
American Arithmetic, Part First, appeared with illus- 
trations scattered all through it. This was a genu- 
ine beginner's book of the modern type. The 
preface deprecated the fact that " the practice of 
postponing arithmetic till children arrive at the age 



Arithmetic 



317 



of nine or ten years still prevails in many of our 
schools," and the bright little volume no doubt 
fulfilled the author's hope that it " would make 
the study both profitable and pleasant for young 
learners." 

5 boys~came:up to recite, but 2 of them were sent 1 
back for having no lessons. How many recited? 




There were 7 farmers, 3 of whom drank rum and 
whisky, and became miserable ; the rest drank water, 
and were healthy and happy. How many drank water ? 




Two Examples in Subtraction. 
From Emerson's The North American Arithmetic, Part First. 

The final quotation in this chapter is one of many 
jingles in Underbill's New Table-Book, 1846. 

Two pennies had John 
His sister had 1, 
They gave them to me, 
And then I had 3, 
Thus you may see 
That 2 and 1 make 3. 



XII 

THE FIRST AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY 

IN colonial days geography was spoken of as " a 
diversion for a winter's evening," and acquaint- 
ance with it was considered an accomplishment 
rather than a necessity. Some rudimentary instruc- 
tion in the science was occasionally given at the 
more advanced schools, but the topic was not taken 
up in the elementary schools until after the Revolu- 
tion. A knowledge of it was first made a condition 
for entering Harvard in 1815, and a dozen years 
more elapsed before Massachusetts named it among 
the required studies in the public schools. To begin 
with, it was not introduced as a separate study, but 
the books were used as readers. The same was true 
of the early school histories. However, geography 
presently won a place of its own and kept it in spite 
of the protests that the scholars' attention was 
thereby being taken away from " cyphering." 

The pioneer of American authors of school geog- 
raphies was Jedidiah Morse. On the title page of 
most editions of his books his name was appended 
with " D. D. Minifter of the Congregation in 
Charleftown, Maffachufetts." He was born in 
1761, graduated from Yale in 1783, and the year 
following published at New Haven his first geogra- 
318 



The First American Geography 319 

phy. Later he put forth several other geographies, 
large and small, became a compiler of gazetteers, 
wrote various important historical and religious 
works, was one of the founders of Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary, and for more than thirty years 




Jedidiah Morse. 

served as pastor of the First Church in Charles- 
town. He won fame not only in his own country, 
but was recognized abroad as a man of distinguished 
attainments, and a number of his books were trans- 
lated into French and German. His Geography 



3 2 ° 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



Made Easy, a small leather-bound i2mo of about 
four hundred pages, was for many years by far the 
most popular text-book dealing with this subject. 
My copy, dated 1800, is dedicated 

TO THE 

Young Mafters and Miffes 

Throughout the United States 

Two maps of double-page size are the only illustra- 
tions — one a map of the world, the other of North 
America. 




GEOGRAPHY MADE EASY. 



A Heading. 
From an edition of 1800. 

The earlier pages treat of the " Doctrine of The 
Sphere, Of Aftronomical Geography, Of Globes 
and their Ufe," etc. But soon we come to the 
Hijtory of the Difcovery of America, and then to 
a General Defcription of America." In the latter 
chapter is much that is interesting and picturesque. 



The First American Geography 321 

It includes, as do all the early geographies, a good 
many imaginative travellers' tales picked up from 
newspapers and other chance sources without any 
pains being taken to verify them or to inquire as to 
the reliability of their authors. In fact, it sometimes 
seems as if the more fabulous the story the better 
its chance to be recorded in the school text-books. 
We get very entertaining glimpses of the limitations 
of geographical knowledge at the time in the follow- 
ing extracts from Morse. 

The Andes, in South America, ftretch along the Pa- 
cific Ocean from the Ifthmus of Darien to the Straits of 
Magellan. The height of Chimborazo, the most elevated 
point in this vaft chain of mountains is 20,280 feet, above 
5000 feet higher than any other mountain in the known 
world. 

North America has no remarkably high mountains. The 
moft confiderable are thofe known under the general name 
of the Allegany Mountains. Thefe ftretch along in many 
broken ridges under different names from Hudfon's River 
to Georgia. The Andes and the Allegany Mountains are 
probably the fame range interrupted by the Gulf of Mexico. 

Who were the firft people of America ? And whence 
did they come ? The Abbe Clavigero gives his opinion in 
the following conclufions : — 

u The Americans defcended from different nations, or 
from different families difperfed after the confufion of 
tongues. No perfon will doubt the truth of this, who has 
any knowledge of the multitude and great diverfity of the 
American languages. In Mexico alone thirty-five have 
already been difcovered." 

But how did the inhabitants and animals originally pasf 
to America ? 



322 Old-time Schools and School-books 

The quadrupeds and reptiles of the new world paffed 
there by land. This fact is manifeft from the improba- 
bility and inconfiftency of all other opinions. 

This neceffarily fuppofes an ancient union between the 
equinoxial countries of America and thofe of Africa, and 
a connexion of the northern countries of America with 
Europe on the E. and Afia on the W. The beafts of cold 
climes paffed over the northern ifthmufes, which probably 
connected Europe, America, and Afia; and the animals and 
reptiles peculiar to hot countries paffed over the ifthmus 
that probably connected S. America with Africa. Various 
reafons induce us to believe that there was formerly a tract 
of land which united the moft eaftern part of Brazil to the 
moft weftern part of Africa ; and that all the fpace of land 
mav have been funk by violent earthquakes, leaving only 
fome traces of it in that chain of iflands of which Cape de 
Verd, Afcenfion, and St. Matthew's Ifland make a part. 
In like manner, it is probable, the northweftern part of 
America was united to the northeaftern part of Afia, and 
the northeaftern parts of America to the northweftern parts 
of Europe, by Greenland, Iceland, etc. 

QUADRUPEDE ANIMALS within the United States: 

Mammoth. This name has been given to an unknown 
animal, whole bones are found in the northern parts of 
both the old and new world. From the form of their teeth, 
they are fuppofed to have been carniverous. Like the ele- 
phant they were armed with tufks of ivory ; but they obvi- 
oufly differed from the elephant in f ize ; their bones prove 
them to have been 5 or 6 times as large. 

A late governor of Virginia, having afked fome dele- 
gates of the Delawares what they knew reflecting this ani- 
mal ; the chief fpeaker informed him that it was a tradition 
handed down from their fathers, " That in ancient times 
a herd of them came to the Big-bone licks, and began an 
univerfal deftruction of the bears, deer, elks, buffaloes, and 



The First American Geography 323 

other animals which had been created for the ufe of the 
Indians ; that the Great Man, above, looking down, and 
feeing this, was lb enraged that he 'feized his lightning, 
defcended to the earth, feated himfelf upon a neighboring 
mountain, on a rock, on which his feat and the print of 
his feet are ftill to be feen, and hurled his bolts among them 
till the whole were flaughtered, except the big bull, who, 
presenting his forehead to the fhafts, fhook them off as 
they fell ; but at length, miffing one, it wounded him in 
the fide ; whereupon, fpringing round, he bounded over the 
Ohio, the Wabafh, the Illinois, and finally over the great 
lakes, where he is living at this day." 

Sapajon, Sagoin. There are various fpecies of animals 
faid to inhabit the country on the lower part of the Miffif- 
fippi, called Sapajons and Sagoins. The former are capa- 
ble of fupporting themfelves by their tails ; the latter are 
not. They have a general refemblance to monkeys, but 
are not fufficiently known to be particularly defcribed. 

The sapajon and sagoin are not as mythical as 
might be fancied from what the book says of them. 
They both belong to the monkey tribe, but dwell 
in South America instead of on the lower Missis- 
sippi. Another curious item is this : — 

Grey Squirrels fometimes migrate in confiderable num- 
bers. If in their courfe they meet with a river, each of 
them takes a fhingle, piece of bark, or the like, and car- 
ries it to the water ; thus equipped they embark, and erect 
their tails to the gentle breeze, which foon wafts them over 
in fafety ; but a fudden flaw of wind fometimes produces 
a deftructive fhipwreck. 

Fifty " quadrupede " animals are described in all, 
and then we have a section devoted to " Birds." 



324 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Next "Amphibious Reptiles" are considered, after 
that " Serpents," and finally " Fifhes." Here are 
sample paragraphs : — 

The JVakon Bird, which probably is of the fame fpecies 
with the Bird of Paradife, receives its name from the ideas 
the Indians have of its fuperior excellence ; the Wakon 
Bird being in their language the bird of the Great Spirit. 
Its tail is compofed of four or five feathers, which are 
three times as long as its body, and which are beautifully 
fhaded with green and purple. It carries this fine length 
of plumage in the fame manner as the peacock does his, 
but it is not known whether, like him, it ever raifes it to 
an erect pofition. 

The JVhitjaw is of the cuckow kind, being a folitary 
bird, and fcarcely ever feen. In the fummer months it is 
heard in the groves, where it makes a noife like the filing 
of a faw. 

Of the Frog kind are many fpecies. Pond frog, green 
fountain frog, tree frog, bull frog. Befides thefe are the 
dufky brown, fpotted frog of Carolina; their voice re- 
fembles the grunting of fwine. The bell frog, fo called, 
becaufe their voice is fancied to be exactly like that of a 
loud cow bell. A beautiful green frog whole noife is like 
the barking of little dogs, or the yelping of puppies. A 
lefs green frog, whole notes relemble thofe of young 
chickens. Little gray fpeckled frog, who make a noife 
like the ftriking of two pebbles together under the furface 
of the water. There is yet an extremely diminutive fpe- 
cies of frogs, called by fome, Savanna crickets, whofe notes 
are not unlike the chattering of young birds or crickets. 
They are found in great multitudes after plentiful rains. 

The Alligator is a very large, ugly, terrible creature, of 
prodigious ftrength, activity, and fwiftnefs in the water. 
They are from 12 to 23 feet in length ; their bodies are as 



The First American Geography 325 

large as that of a horfe. The head of a full-grown alli- 
gator is about three feet long, and the mouth opens nearly 
the fame length. The upper jaw only, moves, and this 
they raife fo as to form a right angle with the lower one. 
They open their mouths while they lie bafking in the fun, 
on the banks of rivers and creeks, and when filled with 
flies, mufketoes and other infects, they fuddenly let fall their 
upper jaw with furprifing noife, and thus fecure their prey. 

The Rattle Snake may be ranked among the largeft fer- 
pents in America. If purfued and overtaken, they jn- 
ftantly throw themfelves into the fpiral coil ; their whole 
body fwells through rage, their eyes are red as burning 
coals, and their brandifhing forked tongues, of the colour 
of the hotteft flame, menaces a horrid death. 

The 'Joint Snake, if we may credit Carver's account of 
it, is a great curiofity. Its fkin is as hard as parchment, 
and as fmooth as glafs. It is beautifully ftreaked with 
black and white. It is fo ftifF, and has fo few joints, and 
thofe fo unyielding, that it can hardly bend itfelf into the 
form of a hoop. When it is ftruck, it breaks like a pipe- 
ftem ; and you may, with a whip, break it from the tail to 
the bowels into pieces not an inch long, and not produce 
the -leaft tincture of blood. 

Other snakes mentioned are the " Water Viper, 
with a fharp thorn tail, Hog nofe Snake, Coach 
Whip Snake, which the Indians imagine is able to 
cut a man in two with a jerk of its tail, Ribbon 
Snake, Glafs Snake, and Two-headed Snake." 

In the list of fishes are noted the " Skip jack, 
Minow, Shiner, Dab, Hard Head and Mummy- 
chog." Of the Lamprey it is affirmed that 

After the fpawning feafon is over, and the young fry 
have gone down to the fea, the old fifhes attach themfelves 



326 Old-time Schools and School-books 

to the roots and limbs of trees, which have fallen or run 
into the water, and there perifh. A mortification begins 
at the tail, and proceeds upwards to the vital part. Fifh 
of this kind have been found at Plymouth, in New Hamp- 
fhire, in different ftages of purification. 

When the general characteristics of the United 
States have been dealt with, New England is taken 
up, and we are informed that in this portion of the 
republic — 

Learning is more generally diffufed than in any other 
part of the globe ; arifing from the excellent eftablifhment 
of fchools in almoft every townfhip and fmaller diftrict. 

A very valuable fource of information to the people is 
the Newfpapers, of which not lefs than thirty thoufand are 
printed every week, in New England. 

Apples are common, and cider conftitutes the principal 
drink of the inhabitants. 

Each state is described in detail, including such 
topics as " Religion, Military Strength, Literature, 
Curiofities, Conftitution, and Hiftory." Bridges are 
constantly referred to — even those over the smaller 
rivers. We learn, for instance, that across the Pis- 
cataqua in New Hampshire a few miles above Ports- 
mouth " has been erected the moft refpectable bridge 
in the United States, 2600 feet in length," at a cost 
of nearly seventy thousand dollars. In Massachu- 
setts ten bridges are listed that " merit notice," and, 
it is added, " Thefe bridges are all fupported by a 
toll." 

Harvard University, the book says, " confifts of 
four elegant edifices," and we are told that " In Wil- 



The First American Geography. 
Size of book, 12 mo. 



The First American Geography 327 

liamstown is another literary inftitution ftarted in 
1790, partly by lottery and partly by the liberal 
donation of gentlemen of the town." Boston had 
seven schools supported wholly at the public ex- 
pense, " and in them the children of every clafs of 
citizens freely affociate." Three of these were " Eng- 
lifh grammar fchools in which the children of both 
fexes, from feven to fourteen yearsofage are inftructed 
in fpelling, accenting, and reading the Englifh lan- 
guage with propriety ; alfo in Englifh grammar and 
compofition, together with the rudiments of geog- 
raphy." In three schools "the fame children are 
taught writing and arithmetic. The fchools are at- 
tended alternately, and each of them is furnifhed 
with an Ufher or Affiftant. The mafters of thefe 
fchools have each a falary of 666 2-3 dollars per 
annum payable quarterly." Lastly there was the 
" Latin grammar fchool " to which " none are 
admitted till ten years of age." 

The inhabitants of Boston at this time numbered 
24,937. As usual in speaking of important places 
a list is given of the " public buildings." There 
were "18 houfes for public worfhip, the ftate houfe, 
court houfe, gaol, Faneuil Hall, a theatre, an alms 
houfe, and powder magazine." The principal manu- 
factures of the town were "rum, beer, paper hang- 
ings, loaf fugar, cordage, fail cloth, fpermaceti and 
tallow candles, and glafs." 

The final states to be considered in the New Eng- 
land section are " Rhode Ifland and Providence 
Plantations," and Connecticut. Perhaps the most 
interesting bit in this portion is the statement that 



328 Old-time Schools and School-books 

to Hartford, at the head of ship navigation on the 
Connecticut River, was brought in boats the produce 
of the country for two hundred miles above. Rail- 
roads were as yet undreamed of, and right through 
the book navigable streams and canals are treated 
as of far more importance than they would be at 
present. 

Morse in his first edition devoted a paragraph to 
the "Connecticut Inhabitants." Whether he aban- 
doned it because it gave offence, I do not know. It 
says : — 

The people of this ftate are generally induftrious fagacious 
hufbandmen ; generous and hofpitable to ftrangers, and good 
neighbours. But they are characterifed for being intem- 
perately fond of law fuits and little petty arbitrations. The 
ladies are modelt, handfome, and agreeable, fond of imitat- 
ing new and extravagant fafhions, neat and chearful, and 
poffeffed of a large fhare of delicacy, tendernefs and fenfi- 
bility. The above character may with juftice be given to 
the ladies of the four New-England States. 

Now we come to " The Second Grand Division 
of the United States." It comprised New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and " Territory 
N. W. of the Ohio." Special attention is paid to 
the climate of this tract, which the book says has 

but one fteady trait, and that is, it is uniformly variable. 
The changes of weather are great, and frequently fudden. 
On the whole, it appears that the climate is a compound 
of moft of the climates of the world. It has the moifture 
of Ireland in fpring ; the heat of Africa in fummer; the 
temperature of Italy in June ; the fky of Egypt in autumn ; 



The First American Geography 329 

the fnow and cold of Norway in winter ; the tempefts (in 
a certain degree) of the Weft Indies, in every feafon ; and 
the variable winds and weather of Great Britain in every 
month in the year. 

From this account of the climate, it is eafy to afcertain 
what degrees of health, and what difeafes prevail. As the 
inhabitants have the climate, fo they have the accute difeafes 
of all the countries that have been mentioned. 

Concerning New York City, the book says : — ■ 

A want of good water has been a great inconvenience to 
the citizens ; there being but few wells in the city. Moft 
of the people are fupplied every day with frefh water con- 
veyed to their doors in cafks, from a pump at the head of 
Queen-ftreet, which receives it from a fpring almoft a mile 
from the centre of the city. This well is about 20 feet 
deep, and 4 feet diameter. The average quantity drawn 
daily from this remarkable well, is no hogfheads of 130 
gallons each. In fome hot fummer days, 216 hogfheads 
have been drawn from it, and what is very fingular, there is 
never more or lefs than about three feet of water in the 
well. The water is fold commonly at three pence a hogf- 
head at the pump. The Manhattan Companv was incor- 
porated in 1798, for the purpofe of conveying good water 
into the city, and their works are now nearly completed. 

New York then had a population of sixty thou- 
sand, which included about three thousand slaves. 

In describing the "Territory N. W. of the Ohio" 
a list is given of its forts " eftablifhed for the pro- 
tection of the frontiers," and we are told that 

both the high and low lands produce vaft quantities of nat- 
ural grapes, of which the fettlers univerfally make a fuffi- 
ciency, for their own confumption, of rich red wine. It is 



33° 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



afferted that age will render this wine preferable to moft of 
the European wines. Cotton is the natural production of 
this country, and it grows in great perfection. 

Below are fragments of information about the 
Southern States, " The Third and much the largejt 
Grand Division of the United States." 

The city of Washington stands at the junction of the 
rivers Patomak and the Eaftern Branch. The fituation of 
this metropolis is upon the great poft road, equi-diftant from 
the northern and fouthern extremities of the Union. The 
public offices were removed to this city in the fummer of 
1800, and here in future Congrefs will hold their feffions. 

In the flat country near the fea-coaft of North Carolina, 
the inhabitants, during the fummer and autumn, are fubject 
to intermittent fevers, which often prove fatal. The coun- 
tenances of the inhabitants during thefe feafons, have gen- 
erally a pale yellowifh caft, occafioned by the prevalence of 
bilious fymptoms. 

A few years fince, Tenneffee abounded with large herds 
of wild cattle, improperly called Buffaloes ; but the improvi- 
dent or ill-difpofed .among the firft fettlers, have deftroyed 
multitudes of them, out of mere wantonnefs. They are 
ftill to be found on fome of the fouth branches of Cumber- 
land river. Elk or moofe are feen in many places, chieflv 
among the mountains. The deer are become comparatively 
fcarce ; fo that no perfon makes a bufinefs of hunting them 
for their fkins only. Enough of bears and wolves yet 
remain. 

In Maryland, Virginia, and North-Carolina the inhabit- 
ants are exceffively fond of the diverfion of horfe racing. 
Every fpring and fall they have ftated races for three or four 
days, which collect the fporting gentlemen from every part 
of the country from 100 to 200 miles. Every poor peaf- 



The First American Geography 331 

ant has an horie or two and all the family in ruins, with 
fcarcely any covering or provif ions ; while the nag, with 
two or three Negroes rubbing him, is pampered with luxu- 
ries to the extreme of high living. 

This last item is from the edition of 1784. I 
make one more quotation from that edition under 
the heading, " Spanifh Dominions in N. America," 
— that is, Florida and Mexico, — and then resume 
consideration of the later book. 

In California, there falls in the morning a great quantity 
of dew, which, fettling on the rofe-leaves becomes hard like 
manna, having all the fweetnefs of refined fugar, without 
its whitenefs. 

The greateft curiofity in the city of Mexico, is their 
floating gardens. When the Mexicans, about the year 
1325, were fubdued by the Colhuan and Tepanecan na- 
tions, and confined to the fmall iflands of the lake, having 
no land to cultivate, they were taught by neceffity to form 
movable gardens, which floated on the lake. Their con- 
ftruction is very limple. They take willows and the roots 
of marfh plants, and other materials which are light, and 
twift them together, and fo firmly unite them as to form a 
fort of platform, which is capable of fupporting the earth 
of the garden. Upon this foundation they lay bufhes and 
over them fpread the mud which they draw up from the 
bottom of the lake. Their figure is quadrangular; their 
length and breadth various, but generally about 8 rods long 
and 3 wide ; and their elevation from the furface of the 
water is lefs than a foot. Thefe were the firft fields that 
the Mexicans owned, after the foundation of Mexico ; 
there they firft cultivated the maize, great pepper and other 
plants neceffary for their fupport. From the induftry of 
the people thefe fields foon became numerous. At prefent 



33?- Old-time Schools and School-books 

they cultivate flowers and every fort of garden herbs upon 
them. In the largeft gardens there is commonly a little 
tree and a little hut, to fhelter the cultivator, and defend 
him from the rain or the fun. When the owner of a gar- 
den wifhes to change his fituation, to get out of a bad 
neighborhood, or to come near to his family, he gets into 
his little boat, and by his own ftrength alone, if the garden 
is fmall, or with the affiftance of others if it be large, con- 
ducts it wherever he pleafes. 

Among the islands off the coast of South America 
that are described is "Juan Fernandes 300 miles 
weft of Chili," famous for its connection with Defoe's 
Robinson Crusoe. The book tells how Alexander 
Selkirk dwelt there and how he was finally rescued, 
concluding with : — 

During his abode on this ifland he had killed 500 goats, 
which he .caught by running them down; and he marked 
as many more on the ear, which he let go. Some of thefe 
were caught 30 years after, their venerable afpect and ma- 
jeftic beards difcovering ftrong fymptoms of antiquity. 

Selkirk upon his return to England, was advifed to pub- 
lifh an account of his life and adventures. He is faid to 
have put his papers into the hands of Daniel Defoe, to 
prepare them for publication. But that writer, by the help 
of thofe papers, and a lively fancy tranfformed Alexander 
Selkirk into Robinfon Cruibe, and returned Selkirk his 
papers again ; fo that the latter derived no advantage from 
them. 

Part I of the geography closes with " New Dif- 
coveries," which it declares " have been numerous 
and important." Here is one ; — 



The First American Geography ^33 

The Northern Archipelago^ This confists of feveral 
groups of iflands fituated between the eaftern coaft of 
Kamtfchatka and the weftern coaft of America. 

The moft perfect equality reigns among thefe iflanders. 
They feed their children when very young, with the coarf- 
eft flefh, and for the moft part raw. If an infant cries, 
the mother immediately carries it to the fea fide, and, 
whether it be fummer or winter, holds it naked in the water 
until it is quiet. This cuftom is fo far from doing the chil- 
dren any harm that it hardens them againft the cold, and 
they go barefooted through the winter without the leaft in- 
convenience. The leaft affliction prompts them to fuicide ; 
the apprehenfion of even an uncertain evil, often leads them 
to defpair ; and they put an end to their days with great 
apparent infenfibility. 

A little farther on we find this about the people 
of the Friendly Islands : — 

Their great men are fond of a fingular kind of luxury, 
which is, to have women fit befide them all night, and 
beat on different parts of their body until they go to fleep ; 
after which, they relax a little of their labour, unlefs they 
appear likely to wake ; in which cafe they redouble their 
exertions, until they are again faft af leep. 

Part II is devoted to the eastern hemisphere. I 
quote two paragraphs about Lapland : — 

The employment of the women confifts in making nets 
for the fifhery, in drying fifh and meat, in milking the rein- 
deer, in making cheefe, and in tanning hides ; but it is 
underftood to be the bufinefs of the men to look after the 
kitchen, in which, it is faid, the women never interfere. 

When a Laplander intends to marry a female, he, or his 



334 Old-time Schools and School-books 

friends, court her father with brandy ; when with fome 
difficulty he gains admittance to his fair one, he offers her 
a beaver's tongue, or fome other eatable, which fhe rejects 
before company, but accepts of in private. 

The father evidently enjoyed his part of the 
courting and was loath to end his free supply of 
liquor. " This prolongs the courtfhip fometimes 
for three years," says the book. 

I expected when I turned to the pages devoted 
to Asia that I would find rats named as an article 
of Chinese diet, but the rat myth seems to have 
been of later growth. None of the geographies 
refer to it until Peter Parley in 1830 shows a picture 
of a pedler " selling rats and puppies for pies." In 
spite of this lack Morse's information about the 
Chinese is by no means uninteresting, as will be seen 
by the cullings which follow : — 

The Chinefe have particular ideas of beauty. They 
pluck up the hairs of the lower part of their faces by the 
roots with tweezers, leaving a few ftraggling ones by way 
of beard. Their complexion towards the north, is fair, 
towards the fouth, fwarthy ; and the fatter a man is they 
think him the handfomer. 

Language.^ The Chinefe language contains only 330 
words, all of one fyllable : but then each word is pro- 
nounced with fuch various modulations, and each with a 
different meaning, that it becomes more copious than could 
be eafily imagined, and enables them to exprefs themfelves 
very well, on the common occafions of life. 

The Chinefe pretend, as a nation, to an antiquity beyond 
all meafure of credibility ; and their annals have been car- 
ried beyond the period to which the fcripture chronology 



The First American Geography 335 

affigns the creation of the world. Poan Kou is faid by 
them to have been the firft man ; and the interval of time 
betwixt him and the death of the celebrated Confucius, 
which was in the year before Chrift, 479, has been reck- 
oned from 276,000 to 96,961,740 years. 

The descriptions of Africa in Morse's book lack 
definiteness, except as regards Egypt and the north 
coast. The rest of the continent, " from the Tropic 
of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope," is handled 
in a single lump. Of the inland countries Abys- 
sinia receives most attention, and we are told that — 

The religion of the Abyffinians is a mixture of Chrif- 
tianity, Judaifm and Paganifm ; the two latter of which 
are by far the moft predominant. There are here more 
churches than in any other country, and though it is very 
mountainous, and confequently the view much obftructed, 
it is very feldom you fee lefs than 5 or 6 churches. Every 
great man when he dies, thinks he has atoned for all his 
wickednefs, if he leaves a fund to build a church, or has 
one built in his life-time. 

The churches are full of pictures flovenly painted on 
parchment, and nailed upon the walls. There is no choice 
in their faints, they are both of the Old and New Teftament, 
and thofe that might be difpenfed with from both. There 
is St. Pontius Pilate and his wife ; there is St. Baalam and 
his afs ; Sampfon and his jaw bone, and fo of the reft. 

It makes the beginning of the nineteenth century 
seem very barbaric when we read a few pages farther 
on that — 

In the Guinea or weftern coaft, the Englifh exchange 
their woolen and linen manufactures, their hard ware and 



336 Old-time Schools and School-books 

fpirituous liquors, for the perfons of the natives. Among 
the Negroes, a man's wealth confifts in the number of his 
family, whom he fells like fo many cattle, and often at an 
inferior price. 

One page near the close of the volume estimates 
the number of inhabitants in the world and forecasts 
the probable population of the United States a 
century later. It supposes that the number will 
double every twenty years, and that therefore in 
1900 we should be a nation of 160 millions. 

In this forecast and in some other respects our 
author fails to hit the mark, but whatever the book's 
shortcomings, it was not dull, and it did admirable 
service in introducing an important study into the 
old-time schools. 






XIII 

LATER GEOGRAPHIES 

THE old-time geographies until nearly the 
middle of the last century were never larger 
than i2mos and some of them were dimin- 
utive 32mos. Up to 1820 they were as a rule 
bound in full leather, but occasionally the wood or 
binder's board of the sides was covered with dull 
blue or marbled paper. Buff-tinted papers with 
the title and more or less other printing on them 
were substituted on nearly all the later books. Il- 
lustrations also began to be used, at first sparingly, 
but soon very generously ; and instead of being 
designed for the older pupils the books were made 
with special reference to the needs of the younger 
children. 

For a score of years after geographies began to 
be introduced into the schools they depended largely 
on the use of a globe to make clear the divisions of 
the earth. It was not long, however, before nearly 
every book was accompanied by an atlas, and this 
continued customary to about 1850. Not many 
of these atlases have survived. They were flimsily 
made, with paper covers, and the wear and tear of 
daily use made an end of them. The usual size 
was either about six by nine inches or nine by eleven 
z 337 



33% Old-time Schools and School-books 

inches. Comparatively little color was used on the 
maps, and even at their newest the atlases must have 
looked dull and uninteresting. To modern eyes the 
oddest features of the maps are the vacant or mis- 
taken outlines of the northern coasts of this con- 
tinent, and the general blankness of all its western 
portion, with Mexico making a great sweep up into 
the present domains of our republic. Some of the 
African maps, too, are given a strange appearance 
by the portrayal of an immense line of mountains 
— the "Jibbel Kumra or M? of the Moon" — ex- 
tending in a continuous and perfectly straight chain 
from east to west entirely across the broadest part 
of the continent. 

Jedidiah Morse was the pioneer among American 
authors of school geographies, as I have explained 
in the previous chapter. The earliest rival to con- 
test the field with Morse's books was a small volume 
of questions and answers compiled by Nathaniel 
Dwight and published at Hartford in 1795. Our 
own continent is confined to the final third of 
Dwight's Geography, while Europe, Asia, and Africa 
have the first two-thirds. How very remote and 
unfamiliar many portions of the globe still were can 
be judged from the fact that most of the capital 
cities in Africa and some even in Asia and Europe 
are located by giving their distance and direction 
from London. Thus, " Peterf burgh the capital of 
Ruffia is 1140 miles north-eaft from London. 
Pekin the capital of China ftands eight thoufand 
and fixty-two miles fouth-eafterly of London." 
Monomotapa, the capital of a country of the same 



Later Geographies 239 

name " on the fea-shore in the fouthern part of 
Africa, is built with wood, covered with plafter and 
ftands about 5,200 miles fouth-eafterly from Lon- 
don." Other curious bits from the geography 
follow : — 

Q. What are the Ruffian funeral ceremonies ? 

A. They are fingular : The prieft prays, and fprinkles 
the corpfe for eight or ten days ; it is then buried with a 
paffport to heaven, f igned by the bifhop and another clergy- 
man, which is put between the fingers of the deceafed, and 
then the people return to the houfe whence they went, and 
drown their forrow in intoxication. This they commonly 
do for about forty days, during which time the prieft fays 
prayers over the grave. 

Q. Are there any lakes in Scotland ? 

A. There are many; but two are very remarkable: 
One near Lochnefs is on the top of a hill almoft two 
miles high. This lake is fmall, but it has never been 
founded, nor does it ever freeze. About feventeen miles 
diftant is another lake which is frozen all the year. 

Q. What are the perfons and characters of the Scots ? 

A. They are generally lean, raw-boned, and have high 
cheek-bones, which is a characteriftical feature. 

Q. What are the diverfions of the Scots ? 

A. They are all of the vigorous, athletic kind ; such as 
dancing, goff and curling. The goff is a fpecies of ball- 
playing performed with a bat and a ball, the extremity of 
the bat being loaded with lead, and the party which ftrikes 
the ball with feweft ftrokes into a hole prepared for the 
purpofe wins the game. 

Q. What are the cuftoms and diverfions of the Irifh ? 

A. There are a few cuftoms exifting in Ireland peculiar 
to this country. Thefe are their funeral howlings and pre- 
fenting their corpfes in the ftreets to excite the charity of 



34-0 Old-time Schools and School-books 

ftrangers, their convivial meetings on Sunday, and dancing 
to bag-pipes, which are ufually attended with quarreling. 

Cj. What curiofities are there in France ? 

A. A fountain near Grenoble emits a flame which will 
burn paper, ftraw, etc., but will not burn gun-powder. 
Within about eight leagues of the fame place is an inac- 
ceffible mountain in the form of a pyramid reverfed. 

Q. What are the 'animal productions of Poland ? 

A. Buffaloes, horfes, wolves, boars, gluttons, lynxes and 
deer. Befides these there is elk, which is faid to be de- 
ftroyed in the winter by flies who get into his ears and live 
upon his brain. 

Q. What curiofities are there in Portugal ? 

A. There are lakes into which a stone being caft caufes 
a rumbling like the noife of an earthquake. 

(J. What do you obferve of the inhabitants of Guinea? 

A. They are chiefly pagans and idolaters. In Evo, 
where the people are governed by a king who is not ablb- 
lute, when they are tired of him, a deputation waits on him 
and informs him that it is fatiguing for him to bear the 
burden of government any longer, advifing him to take a 
little reft. He thanks them and retires to his apartment 
as if to fleep, and directs his women to ftrangle him ; and 
after he expires they deftroy all things which belonged to 
him or to themfelves, and then kill one another. His fon 
fucceeds to the government, and on the fame terms. 

Cj. Give a concife defcription of the Giages and Annians. 

A. The first inhabit a part of the Congo coaft ; the 
latter live in the Macaco. The people are cannibals. They 
kill and eat their firft-born children ; and their friends who 
die are eaten by their relations. The king of Macaco 
refides in Monfol, where there is a market in which human 
flefh is fold, although other meat exifts in plenty. They 
efteem it a luxury, and it is faid an hundred prifoners or 
flaves are daily killed for the king's table. 



Later Geographies 341 

O. What are the characteriftics of the Hottentots ? 

A. They are the moft abject of the human race. They 
befmear their bodies with foot and greafe, live upon carrion, 
old leather, fhoes, and everything of the moft loathfome 
kind ; drefs themfelves in fheep's fkins, untanned, turning 
the wool to their flefh in the winter, and the other fide in 
the fummer. Their drefs ferves them for a bed at night, 
for a covering by day, and for a winding-fheet when they 
die. 

Q. What is the temper of the New England people ? 

A. They are frank and open, bold and enterprifing. 
The women are educated to houfe-wifery, excellent com- 
panions, and houfe-keepers ; fpending their leifure time in 
reading books of ufeful information. 

Q. What are their diverf ions ? 

A. Dancing is a favorite one of both fexes. Sleigh- 
riding in winter, and fkating, playing ball, gunning and 
fif hing are the principal ; gambling and horfe -jockeying are 
practifed by none but worthlefs people who are defpifed by 
all perfons of refpectability, and confidered as nuifances in 
fociety. 

Q. Are there any flaves in Maffachufetts ? 

A. NONE. 

One geography that had a marked individuality 
of its own was a thick little volume, mostly in verse, 
entitled The Monitor s Instructor, published at Wil- 
mington, Delaware, in 1 804. Speaking of himself in 
the third person in the introduction the author says, 
" Unpractised in poetry in a great degree, he has ven- 
tured thereupon supposing it to be, in general, rather 
more taking, with youth, than prose ; and though 
not the most flowery cast, it will, he hopes, answer 
the end." 



34 2 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Now let the muse some incense bring, 
As we the works of nature sing, 

is the way he begins, and below are extracts culled 
here and there from succeeding pages : — 

America (our native) streams, 
Shall first awhile become our themes, 
Both lakes and rivers, great and small, 
Which in th' Atlantic Ocean fall. 

After naming the more important coast rivers, the 
book remarks : — 

Now o'er these streams thus having glanc'd, 
And hastily, thus far advanc'd, 
Not having left the sounding shore, 
Next their main sources shall explore ; 
And on the wing which poets feign, 
Soar to each mount, skim o'er the plain, 
To find the little purling rill, 
And which the largest rivers fill. 

One river, of enormous size, 
To west of Mississippi lies. . . . 
The river this call'd Missouri, 
And tow'rd south-east its courses lie, 

This river, from what I can see, 
Can't less than the Ohio be. 

Skipping to where the book is describing leading 
towns, we find these lines: — 

An island is well known to fame, 
Manhattan is this island's name. . . . 



Later Geographies 343 

On sou'west end New York doth stand, 
Investing all that point of land. . . . 
Not fully regular it's plann'd, 
Yet very elegant and grand. . . . 
The streets present diversity, 
And suited to conveniency, 
The Broadway has still more of taste 
Than any street in all the place. . . . 
A street three-score and ten feet wide, 
And gently rising from the tide, 
Its edifices bold and grand, 
Present themselves on either hand ; 
The most magnificent of all, 
Known by the name of Fed'ral Hall, 
For pleasantness, it is agreed, 
And health, few places this exceed. 
In summer come, on every side, 
The cooling breezes from the tide. 
For winter mildness few excel 
This city, of same parallel. 

In the prose portion of the book are several curi- 
ous "paradoxes." Here is one of them : — 

Three men went on a journey, in which, though their 
heads travelled 12 yards farther than their feet, all returned 
alive, with their heads on. 

The Solution explains that " If any person should 
travel round the globe, the space travelled by his 
head will exceed that his feet travelled" by about 
the number of yards mentioned. 

The next geography from which I make selection 
is by Benjamin Davies. It was published in 18 13. 



344 Old-time Schools and School-books 

The first two paragraphs quoted come under the 
heading " New Holland." This was the accepted 
name of Australia until the middle of the nineteenth 
century. The Dutch discovered the continent in 
1616, but its size and shape were only vaguely 
known until Captain Cook explored most of the 
coast in 1770. 

Some suppose that this extensive region, when more 
thoroughly investigated, will be found to consist of two, 
three or more vast islands, intersected by narrow seas. 

Inhabitants. The black bushy beards of the men and 
the bone or reed which they thrust through the cartilage of 
the nose gives them a disgusting appearance ; which is not 
improved by the practice of rubbing fish oil into their 
skins as a protection from the air and moskitos ; so that in 
hot weather the stench is intolerable. The women are 
marked by the loss of the two first joints of the little fin- 
ger of the left hand ; as they are supposed to be -in the way 
when they coil their fishing lines. 

Manners and Customs in the United States. 
Travellers have observed a want of urbanity, particularly 
in Philadelphia ; and in all the capital cities, an eager pur- 
suit of wealth, by adventurous speculations in commerce, 
by land-jobbing, banks, insurance offices, and lotteries. 
The multiplication of inns, taverns and dram shops, is an 
obvious national evil that calls loudly for legislative inter- 
ference ; for in no country are they more numerous or 
more universally baneful. Schools are spread everywhere 
through the well-settled parts of the country, yet the do- 
mestic regulation of children and youth is not duly regarded. 

Language. The English language is the general one 
of the union, and is cultivated with great assiduity in all 
the principal cities and towns. All the classical authors in 
the English language have been reprinted in America, many 



Later Geographies 345 

of them have passed through several editions, some with 
great elegance and correctness. 

Boston is built in a very irregular manner, on a penin- 
sula, at the bottom of Massachusetts bay. 

Southern Manners and Customs. The inquisitive 
traveller as he progresses southward no longer beholds so 
great a proportion of hardy, industrious, and healthv yeo- 
manry, living on terms of equality and independence; their 
domestic economy neat and comfortable ; their farms well 
stocked ; and their cattle sleek and thriving. On the con- 
trary he discovers the farmhouses more thinly scattered, 
some of them miserable hovels ; the retreats of small pro- 
prietors, who are too indolent or too proud to labour; here 
and there a stack of corn-fodder, and the cattle looking as 
miserable as their owners. A few miles distant perhaps he 
finds a large mansion house, the property of the lord of 
two or three thousand acres of land, surrounded by 50 or 
100 negro-huts, constructed in the slightest manner; and 
about these cabins swarms of black slaves. But it is just 
to observe that many of the gentry are distinguishable for 
their polished manners and education, as well as for their 
great hospitality to strangers. 

Cummings's Geography, 18 14, apologizes in its 
preface for adding another " to the number of 
geographies, already so great as to obstruct, rather 
than promote improvement." This preface is very 
long, and is chiefly made up of directions " designed 
to assist teachers, who have had but imperfect, or no 
geographical instruction." It advises them to "let 
the pupils always set with their faces towards the 
north." Then with their maps before them they 
"will be in proper position to get the points of the 
compass straight in their minds. 



346 Old-time Schools and School-books 

Early in the lessons we are informed that the 
" Alleganies are in some places, immense masses 
of rocks, piled one above another in frightful preci- 
pices, till they reach the height of more than 10,000 
feet above a level with the ocean." In reality not a 
peak reaches 7000 feet. 

During the previous decade Lewis and Clark had 
made their journey across the continent, and we 
now find mention of the "Stony Mountains." It 
was a number of years before the name Rocky was 
substituted for Stony. On the maps they were 
sometimes labelled the Chippewan Mountains, and 
Workman's Geograph y , in 1805, says the ranges " that 
lie weft of the river St. Pierre are called the Shining 
Mountains, from an infinite number of chryftal 
ftones of an amazing fize with which they are cov- 
ered, and which, when the fun fhines full upon them, 
fparkle fo as to be feen at a very great diftance." 

In the descriptions of the states, we learn from 
Cummings that the western part of Pennsylvania 
abounds with excellent coal, but we get no hint of 
its having any commercial importance. Indeed, coal 
mining as an industry did not begin until 1820. 
Before that time coal was in the same category as 
were petroleum and natural gas, which the book calls 
" curiosities." 

Concerning the Andes in South America, we are 
told, " These amazing mountains, in comparison with 
which the Alps are but little hills, have fissures in 
some places a mile wide, and deep in proportion ; 
and there are others that run under the ground, and 
resemble in extent a province." 



Later Geographies 347 

When we come to Europe, we are made to realize 
the intense cold of the Lapland winters by the state- 
ment that, "In attempting to drink the lips are fre- 
quently frozen to the cup." It is affirmed, too, that 
if there is a crust on the snow, " The Laplander 
travels with his reindeer in a sledge two or three 
hundred miles a day." Another queer bit is this 
about the roads in Flanders, an old-time province, 
which included all the coast region of Belgium and 
extended into France and Holland. " They are 
generally a broad causeway, and run several miles in 
a straight line till they terminate in a view of some 
magnificent building." These views no doubt gave 
pleasure, but I think I should have preferred to have 
the roads continue. 

Presently we find the following paragraph : — 

In the ocean there are many dangerous whirlpools. That 
called the Maehtroom, upon the coast of Norway, is consid- 
ered as the most dreadful and voracious in the world. 
A minute description of the internal parts is not to be 
expected, since none, who were there, ever returned to 
bring back information. The body of the waters, that 
form this whirlpool, is extended in a circle about thirteen 
miles in circumference. In the midst of this stands a rock 
against which the tide in its ebb is dashed with inconceiv- 
able fury. At this time it instantly swallows up every- 
thing that comes within the sphere of its violence. No 
skill in the mariner, nor strength of rowing, can work an 
escape; the vessel's motion, though slow in the beginning, 
becomes every moment more rapid, it goes around in circles 
still narrower and narrower, till at last it is dashed against 
the rocks and instantly disappears. Nor is it seen again 



348 Old-time Schools and School-books 

for six hours; till, the tide flowing, it is thrown forth with 
the same violence with which it was drawn in. The noise 
of this dreadful vortex still farther contributes to increase 
its terror, which, with the dashing of the waters, makes 
one of the most tremendous objects in nature." 

In another geography of the period we learn that 
even " the bellowing struggles of the whale have not 
always redeemed him from the danger," and that 
" the bottom is full of craggy spires." The real 
maelstrom is caused by the current of the Great 
West Fiord rushing between two of the Loffoden 
Isles. Ordinarily it can be traversed without appre- 
hension, but when the wind blows directly against 
the current, the sea around for several miles is vio- 
lently agitated and extremely dangerous. 

Adams's Geography, 18 18, is divided into three 
parts — Part I, " Geographical Orthography," con- 
sisting of ten pages of names of states, rivers, towns, 
etc., to be used as spelling lessons; Part II, "A 
Grammar of Geography," fifty pages, being an epit- 
ome of main facts " to be committed to memory " ; 
Part III, "A Description of the Earth," making 
up the body of the book, " to be read in classes." 
The first four excerpts are from Part II, the rest 
from Part III. 

A Mountain is a vast protuberance of the earth. 

Europe is distinguished for its learning, politeness, gov- 
ernment, and laws ; for the industry of its inhabitants, and 
the temperature of its climate. 

The White Mountains are the highest not only in New 
Hampshire, but in the United States. 

Switzerland is a small romantic country, lying upon the 



Later Geographies 



349 



Alps, and is the highest spot in Europe. St. Gothard is the 
highest mountain. 

Navigation on the Mississippi is attended with many diffi- 
culties and dangers, from the sudden crooks and bends in 
the river, the falling in of its banks, and more especially 
from the sawyers, so called, which are trees whose roots 
have by some means become fastened to the bottom of the 




Country Store, exhibiting the Productions of Furious Countries. 
Frontispiece. 
From Willard's Geography for Beginners, 1826. 
Reduced one-third. 



river, in such a manner, that, from the continual pressure 
of the current, they receive a regular vibratory motion 
from the resemblance of which to a saw-mill, they have 
derived their name. Their motion is sometimes very quick, 
and if they strike a boat, it is immediately upset or dashed 
to pieces. Vessels are from five to thirty days on their 
passage up to New Orleans, 87 miles ; although with a 
favorable wind, they will sometimes descend in 12 hours. 



350 Old-time Schools and School-books 

From New Orleans to Natchez, 310 miles, the voyage 
requires from 60 to 80 days. Ships rarely ascend above 
that place. It is navigable for boats, carrying about 40 
tons, and rowed by 18 or 20 men to the falls of St. Anthony. 




Cataract of Niagara. 

From Worcester's Elements of Geography, 1828. 

The number of post-offices in the United States in 1 8 1 1, 
was 2,043. The mail was carried 46,380 miles in stages, 
and 61,171 miles in sulkies and on horseback. 

Several mineral springs break forth in different parts of 
the United States. The most celebrated are those of Sara- 
toga and Ballstown in the state of New York. The latter 
place is much frequented by gay and fashionable people, as 
well as by invalids. 

Beer is the common drink of the inhabitants of Neiv York 
State. The forests abound with bears, wolves, deer, and elks. 

Many of the towns and plantations in Maine are desti- 
tute of any settled minister. Missionaries sent among 
them have been affectionately received. 

Water is brought to Philadelphia in a subterraneous canal, 



Later Geographies 



351 



from the Schuylkill, and is then raised by steam 30 or 40 
feet to a reservoir on the top of a circular edifice, from 
which it is distributed by bored logs to the different parts 
of the city. 

Pittsburg is supplied with foreign goods chiefly by land 
from Philadelphia and Baltimore. The price of waggon 
carriage this distance is from 5 to 6 dollars a hundred pounds 
weight. The number of inhabitants, in 1810, was 4,768. 

A decade later, 
when Pittsburg had 
a population of 
seven thousand, the 
geographies speak of 
it as " one of the 
greatest manufactur- 
ing towns in the 
Union." 

I quote further 
from Adams, begin- 
ning with what he 
has to say of "the 
floating mills for 
grinding corn, which 
are frequently seen 
on the Ohio River." 



The mill is sup- 
ported by two large 
canoes, with the wheel 
between them ; this is 




Natural Bridge of Virginia. 

From Worcester's Elements of Geography, 1828. 



moored wherever they can find 
the strongest current, nearest to the shore, by the force 
of which alone the mill is put in operation. It is floated 
up and down the river whenever a customer calls. 



352 Old-time Schools and School-books 

The exports from Ohio, consisting of flour, corn, hemp, 
flax, beef, pork, smoked hams of venison, whiskey, peach 
brandy, and lumber are mostly sent down the Mississippi 
to New Orleans. Those boats which descend with the 
produce rarely return, but on arriving at New Orleans, are 
taken to pieces and sold for lumber. 

Cincinnati is a pleasant, flourishing town. It contains 
about 3,000 inhabitants. In this town is fort Washing- 
ton, which commences the chain of forts extending to the 
westward. 

Detroit, the capital of Michigan Territory, is a place 
of considerable trade, which consists chiefly in a barter of 
coarse European goods with the natives for furs. The 
town is surrounded by a strong blockade, through which 
there are 4 gates. The streets are generally crowded with 
Indians in the day time; but at night they are all shut out 
of the town, except such as get admittance into private 
houses, and the gates are closed. 




Whale Fishing. 
From Worcester's Elements of Geography, 1 829. 



Later Geographies 253 

St. Louis, the capital of the Territory of Louisiana, 
contains about 200 houses and is well fortified. 

The people of Norway are justly famed for honesty and 
industry, and retain their strength so long, that a Nor- 
wegian is not supposed incapable of labour, till he is up- 
wards of 100 years old. The inhabitants in some of the 
interior parts it is said live till weary of life. 




Treck-Shuit. 
From Worcester's Elements of Geography, 1 829. 

In all the northern parts of Russia the winter cold is 
very terrible. Birds in the act of flying have sometimes 
been known to drop down dead from the atmosphere in 
consequence of it ; drivers of carriages are frequently 
frozen to death upon their seats without being able to 
change their position. At Petersburg, only two months 
in the year are entirely free from snow. 

The Condor is undoubted the largest bird that per- 
vades the air. When it alights on the ground, or rises 
from it, the noise it makes with its wings is such as to 

2A 



354 Old-time Schools and School-books 

terrify and almost to deafen any one who happens to be 
near the place. 

Among the animals peculiar to South America, the 
most extraordinary is the Sloth, or as it was called by 
the way of derision, the swift Petre. It is about the size 
of an ordinary monkey, but of a most wretched appear- 
ance. It never stirs unless impelled by hunger; it is said 
to be several minutes in moving one of its legs. Every 
effort is attended with a most dismal cry. When this 
animal finds no wild fruits on the ground, he looks out 
with a great deal of pain for a tree well loaded, which he 
ascends moving and crying, and stopping by turns. At 
length, having mounted, he plucks off all the fruit and 
throws it on the ground, to save himself such another 
troublesome journey ; and rather than be fatigued in com- 
ing down the tree, gathers himself in a bunch, and with 
a shriek drops to the ground. 




bridges in Chili. 
From Woodridge's Rudiments of Geography, 1 829. 

A similar description of the sloth in Dwight's 
Geography includes the statement that "It is so 
many days travelling from one tree to another, that 
it frequently grows lean during the journey." 



Later Geographies 355 

Peter Parley s Method of telling about Geography, 
1829, was a thin, square little book with leather back 
and flexible pasteboard sides. For years it had an 

PETER PARLEY 

Going to tell about Geography. 




Take care there ! take care boys ! if you run against my toe, 
I'll not tell you another story ! 

Frontispiece to Peter Parley' s Geography, 1830. 

immense circulation. The style is simple and collo- 
quial ; there are numerous pictures and a variety of 
maps and diagrams. Perhaps the portion best re- 



3$6 Old-time Schools and School-books 



membered by those who studied the book is a rhymed 
review of the earlier lessons, beginning — 

The world is round, and like a ball 
Seems swinging in the air, 
A sky extends around it all, 
And stars are shining there. 

Pains are taken to inculcate good morals and reli- 
gion, and we find in treating of Asia considerable 





English, A Chinese selling Rats and Puppies 

for pies. 

From Peter Parley's Geography, 1 829. 

Bible history with appropriate comments. " This 
history," the author says, " is exceedingly interest- 
ing, and is all true. A great part of the history of 
almost all other nations is false ; but the Bible tells 
us nothing but what is worthy of belief." 

The Malte-Brun Geography ', 1 83 1 , was also writ- 
ten by " Peter Parley," but the materials for the 
book were drawn chiefly from the large work by 
the noted French geographer, whose name gives 



Later Geographies 



357 



the book its title. Selections that show something 
of the character of the book 
and of the times follow: — 



Occasional bands of white 
hunters and trappers range the 
Missouri Territory for furs. 
Some of them extend their 
expeditions to the foot of the 
Rocky mountains, and some 
to the shores of the Pacific. 
The herds of buffaloes that are 
seen in this territory sometimes 
amount to 10,000 each. When 
the herd is moving, the ground 
trembles, and the grumbling and 
bellowing of the multitude is 
heard for miles. 




Norwegian. 
From Peter Parley's Geography. 



It is probable that, ere long, roads will be cut across 







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White Bear. 

From Olney's^ Practical System of Modern Geography, 1831. 

the Rocky mountains; that lines of stages will convey 
travellers from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific; 



358 Old-time Schools and School-books 

that the borders of the latter ocean will be occupied by 
towns and villages ; and that the immense valleys of the 




The Madstroom. 

From Olney's A Practical System of Modern Geography. 

Missouri, the Arkansas and the Columbia, now given up 
to the dominion of savages and wild beasts, will present all 
the busy and varied scenes of a crowded population. 




Winter in Canada. 
From The Malte-Brun School Geography. 1831. 

Paris sets the fashions for Europe, and in some meas- 
ure for America. An immense trade is here carried on in 



Later Geographies 359 

articles of dress. Every week the female fashions are 
changed, and every month there is a new cut for male 
attire. 

From Woodbridge's Universal Geography, 1833, 
a large thick volume for advanced scholars, I make 
this extract : — 

In 1790 the extent of post-roads in the United States 
was only 1875 miles; in 1827, it was 105,336. The 
great roads are usually turnpikes constructed by the state 
or incorporated bodies and supported by tolls. New Eng- 
land, and the greater part of the Middle States, are inter- 
sected in every direction by roads, which are usually well 
constructed and in good repair. 

In the sandy, alluvial country of the Atlantic coast 
from New York to Florida, the roads are heavy, and not 
easily improved. The scattered state of population has 
prevented much attention to roads, in the states south of 
Maryland : and frequent impediments are presented by the 
want of bridges and causeways, over the streams and 
marshes. 

In the Western States, during the wet season, many 
roads are scarcely passable for wheel carriages. The trav- 
elling in these states is chiefly by steam boats, on their 
noble rivers. The small streams are so variable that most 
of them can be forded during the dry seasons, and bridges 
are rarely built. The banks are high and steep, and the 
difficulty of passage is often very great. During high water, 
many of the streams become impassable, and the traveller 
encounters serious dangers. 

The most important post-road in the United States is 
that which traverses the states on the Atlantic, a distance 
of 1,800 miles, passing through all the principal towns from 
Robbinstown in Maine to Florida. 



360 Old-time Schools and School-books 

A plan has recently been invented for constructing 
roads with iron bars, or railways, on which the wheels of 
carriages run so easily that they may be drawn from 15 to 
30 miles an hour, by means of locomotive steam engines. 

Peter Parley, in one of his geographies published 
in 1837, sa y s °f tne railroads : — 



Progress of Improvement. 
From The Malte-Brun School Geography, 1 842. 

They are found so useful, that, for carrying passengers 
from one place to another, they have, on many routes, taken 
the place of stage-coaches. When the cars first began to 
run, it was amusing to see the astonishment of the horses and 
cattle, as the engines came snorting, smoking and puffing 
over the road. You have heard of the rail road from Bos- 
ton to Worcester. Near the latter place is an Insane Hospi- 
tal, which commands a view of the road. When the first 
car came into Worcester, a crazy man was looking out of 
the window. " Upon my word," said he, " that's a strange- 
looking beast and travels desperate fast for such a short- 
legged crittur." 



Later Geographies 



361 




Scene in Illinois. 

From The Malte-Brun School Geography, 1842. 

Peter Parley s National Geography, 1845, was 
the earliest, I believe, to take the large, flat quarto 




Pilgrims landing at Plymouth. 
From Goodrich's .4 National Geography, 1845. 

shape. This form enabled it to include good-sized 
maps and do away with the necessity for a separate 



362 Old-time Schools and School-books 

atlas ; and in a few years the i2mos had been en- 
tirely abandoned. The chapters of the National 
Geography were enlivened with poetical introduc- 
tions, and there were occasional other verses. The 
following selection, the last I have to make from the 
geographies of our forefathers, is this jingle descrip- 
tion of "a general custom of moving, in the city of 
New York, on the first of May." 

Bustle, bustle ! Clear the way ! 
He moves, they move, we move, to-day; — 
Pulling, hauling, fathers calling, 
Mothers brawling, children squalling, 
Coaxing, teasing, whimpering, prattling ; 
Pots and pans and kettles rattling; 
Tumbling bedsteads, flying bedspreads, 
Broken chairs, and hollow wares, 
Strew the streets- 




Battle of Lexington. 

From Mitchell's A System of Modern Geography, 1850. 



XIV 

GRAMMARS, HISTORIES, AND MINOR TEXT-BOOKS 

THE two most successful makers of text-books 
in the period immediately following the 
Revolution were Noah Webster and Caleb 
Bingham. The former's spelling-book outstripped 
the latter's Child 's Companion, but none of Bingham's 
books were failures, and his American Preceptor and 
the Columbian Orator were more widely used than 
Webster's readers or any others. 

Caleb Bingham was born in what was then the 
new town of Salisbury in the northwestern corner 
of Connecticut in 1757. Many Indians still dwelt 
in the vicinity, and they were of such doubtful char- 
acter that the people had always to be on their guard 
against a treacherous assault. Sundays the pioneers 
went to church armed ; and the log structure used 
for a meeting-house had portholes, and a sentinel 
was stationed at the door. These frontier conditions 
gave little chance for education, but tradition says 
Caleb studied with the minister and thus prepared 
for college. He entered Dartmouth in 1779, and 
as soon as he graduated began to teach. 

He came to Boston in 1784, and established a 
school for girls, but presently gave this up and 
taught in the public schools of the city. Still later 
he became a bookseller and publisher. He was an 
old-fashioned man, and almost to the time of his 
363 



364 Old-time Schools and School-books 

death, in 18 17, went about attired in a cocked hat 
and small clothes, white vest and stock, and black 
silk stockings. In summer he wore shoes with sil- 
ver buckles, and in winter white-topped boots. 

Next to his reading-books, Bingham's most famous 
publication was " The 2~oung Lady's Accidence: or a 
fhort and eafy Introduction to Englifh Grammar. 
Defigned principally for the ufe of young Learners, 
more efpecially thofe of the FAIR SEX, though 
proper for either." The title-page also contained 
this couplet: — 

Delightful tafk ! to rear the tender thought, 
To teach the young idea how to fhoot. — 

The date of the first edition was 1799. The book 
treats the subject with admirable simplicity and clear- 
ness, the type is good, and the little volume is a very 
pleasing contrast to the dull, crowded pages of nearly 
all the other grammars of the time. A hundred 
thousand copies are said to have been sold. It was 
the first English grammar used in the Boston schools, 
and was one of the earliest grammars ever prepared 
by an American author, its only predecessor of im- 
portance being Part II of Webster's Grammatical 
Institute. Both these books gave place to the gram- 
mar by Lindley Murray, which in its numerous 
abridgments was used for several decades almost 
to the exclusion of every other work dealing with 
the subject. Murray was born in Pennsylvania in 
1745, and as a young man acquired considerable 
reputation and wealth as a lawyer in New York City. 
But in 1784 he went to England to reside, and it 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 365 

was there he wrote his grammar, published in 1795, 
and his several other school-books brought out 
within the next few years. Mr. Murray is described 
as modest in manner, humane and generous, and, in 
spite of bad health, unfailingly cheerful. His books 
were all works of solid merit, though not very pala- 
table to children. The grammar looks dreary to the 
last degree now, and it must have had something of 
the same aspect even in the heyday of its popularity. 
There is a tradition that a friend of the author's once 
said to him, "Of all contrivances invented for puzzling 
the brains of the young your grammar is the worst," 
and this anecdote is quite believable. Murray, how- 
ever, introduced system into the treatment of the 
subject, and is known not unjustly as " the father of 
English Grammar." 

PRONOUNS. 




A man has stolen a bundle, and he is running away 
with it 

Here he and it are pronouns, because they stand 
for nouns, and save the trouble of repeating them. 
If it were not for the pronouns, we should have to 
say, a man has stolen a bundle, and the man is run- 
ning away with the bundle ; but the pronouns 
save the necessity of repeating the words man and 
bundle. 

From Murray's Grammar, adapted to the present mode of Instruction by Enoch Pond, 
1835. 



366 Old-time Schools and School-books 




The study had been adopted in nearly all the 
schools by 18 10, yet few teachers explained its in- 
tricacies or did more than make it a drill. The 
pupils understood little of what the books were in- 
tended to impart, and their interest 
interjections. was always at the ebb. It is 
related of a Pennsylvania school, 
about 1795, that some scholars, 
after a short experience with the 
new study, finding they could 
make nothing of it, got parental 
sympathy in their troubles and each 
Oh ! my poor brother, came to the master with the report 

From Enoch Pond's Murray's tna t \ " Daddy SayS I needn't km 
Grammar. T \ J ,, 

grammar. It s no use. 
That particular master was a grammatical enthu- 
siast and would not let them off. He tried to give 
the science practical application, and for the purpose 
of correcting the boys' language while they were at 
play, he whittled a small piece of thin board into the 
shape of a paddle. Whenever a boy used a wrong 
expression, he 
had to step aside 
and take the 
paddle, and he 
could not play 

again Until he My knife has been opened. My scissors have been ground. 
detected SOme Fr ° m Enoch Pond ' s Murray's Grammar. 

other lad in a grammatical mistake. Then the badge 
of interdiction was transferred. As a result of this 
system the scholars became very critical and made 
marked improvement in their speech. 



PASSIVE VERBS. 




Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 367 



ADVERBS. 




The most attractive edition of Murray's Gram- 
mar was " one adapted to the present mode of in- 
struction," by Enoch Pond, Worcester, 1835, a thin 
little volume with many small engravings illustrating 
the parts of speech. 
Another illustrated 
text-book dealing 
with this subject was 
The Little Gram- 
marian. It was of 
English origin, but 
was republished in 
New York in 1829. 
The text made clear 
" the leading rules 
of syntax in a series 
of instructive and 
amusing tales." 
The pictures con- 
sisted of twelve 
half-page steel en- 
gravings made to accompany the stories. The author 
says of his system that he is trying to make agree- 
able " a subject naturally dry and tedious in the same 
way that the skilful apothecary gilds his pill and 
colors the otherwise nauseous draught." Each 
chapter takes a part of speech, and the narrative in 
that chapter has that part of speech printed in italics 
as often as it occurs. These emphatic words occur 
so often they make the text pages look very queer. 
Just how effective this method is can be judged from 
the specimen which follows : — 



The ship sails smoothly. 



The cars go swiftly. 

From Enoch Pond's Murray's Grammar. 



368 Old-time Schools and School-books 



THE ROBBER AND LITTLE ANN. 

Some few years back, a poor man, living on one of the 
moors in the North of England, whilst busily employed in 
cutting turf, was cruelly beaten by an impious man, because 
he would not give him his watch and the little money he 
had in his pocket. 




The Assault. 
From The Little Grammarian, 1 829. 

His little girl (about three years old) had been to visit 
him, and was asleep on a bed of heath at the time her father 
was attacked ; but his cries awoke her just in time to catch 
a sight of the barbarous thief, as he turned away from the 
mangled and almost lifeless body of her parent. Poor little 
Ann cried most bitterly as she assisted her poor father in 
his efforts to reach home, which, after more than an hour's 
toil, he accomplished. 

A year or two later little Ann saw the assailant at an inn 
and ran into her father's hut in great affright, and called 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 369 



out, as she swooned away, " I have seen the man " ; more 
she could not say for tears and faintness. Her mother said 
to her husband, " Did you not hear her say the man ? If 




A Coach WITH four horses going FROM Boston TO 
Provide7ice, WITH passengers ON ilie outside. 

Prepositions. 
From The Little Grammarian, 1829. 

she had said a man, I should have thought some silly fellow 
had been playing tricks with the child. Surely, John, she 
has not seen the man who lamed and robbed you ? " 




The most beautiful 
BIRD. BIRD. BIRD. 

The Comparison of Adjectives. 
From The Little Grammarian. 

John hastened to the inn, and arrived in time to secure 
the man who had assaulted him. The man was taken to 
prison ; and in a few months was sent from England for 
life, to repent himself in toil in a distant land for the crimes 



37o 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



he had wrought in his own. 
instead of the in her alarm 

VERBS. 



Now, had Little Ann used a 
the 



thief would have escaped 
before she had been able 
to tell her parents what 
she really meant : hence 
learn the great difference 
between a or an and the. 

A Boston edition of 
The Little Grammarian 
was also published, but 
a good deal of matter 
was added, and, instead 
of illustrating the 
stories, the pictures 

were confined to showing the meaning of the parts 

of speech. 

A very fully illustrated book dealing with a sub- 




Active. Passive. Neuter. 

From The Little Grammarian- 




Girl learning her lesson. 
Description of picture. Old-fashioned furniture. Girl's attention 
not diverted by her pets. She seems to have nearly learned her lesson 
and to be just ready to start for her .school. 

From Frost's Easy Exercises in Composition, 1839. 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 371 

ject allied to grammar was Frost's Easy Exercises in 
Composition. There were two or three pictures to a 
page right through the first half of the book, each 
with a few lines of suggestion under them. By this 
combination of pictures and short hints the pupils 
were expected to speedily and easily acquire " the 
art of expressing their ideas in writing." 




. Children promised a summer holiday. 

Description. Pleasure of anticipating a holiday. Inducement to 
study hard, and behave well. 

From Frost's Easy Exercises in Composition- 



History was not taken up in the schools until the 
nineteenth century was well begun. One of the 
earliest histories of the United States, prepared for 
school use, was "by a citizen of Mass.," who states 
in his preface that, " while our schools abound with 
a variety of reading-books for children and youth, 
there has never yet appeared a compendious History 
of the United States fitted for our common schools." 



37 2 Old-time Schools and School-books 

This was 1821. The book was a small volume in 
full leather without maps or illustrations. 

The next year the Rev. C. A. Goodrich published 
his history, which for a long time surpassed all rivals 



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Capt. John Smith defending himself from the In. 
dians. 

From Goodrich's A History of the United States, 1832. 



in popularity. Within a dozen years one hundred 
and fifty thousand copies had been sold. It ap- 
peared in various editions, some entirelv lacking 
pictures and none with more than a few insignificant 
cuts until 1832. Then it was produced in a thick 
i2tnowith forty-eight engravings and a map. Good 
paper was used and the pictures were excellent for 
the time, and very well printed. 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 373 

In 1832, also, Noah Webster put forth a school 
History of the United States, to which was " prefixed 
a brief Account of our [English] Ancestors, from 
the dispersion at Babel, to their Migration to Amer- 
ica." The book ends with the adoption of the 
Constitution, because, as Mr. Webster explains, 
"An impartial history cannot be published during 
the lives of the principal persons concerned in the 
transactions related, without being exposed to the - 
charge of undue flattery or censure ; and unless 





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Destruction of Tea in Boston Harbor. 

From Goodrich's A History of the United States. 

history is impartial, it misleads the student, and 
frustrates its proper object." The individuality 
of the book is farther emphasized by a chapter of 
"Advice to the Young" — economical, moral and 



374 



Old-time Schools and School-books 



religious — which the author hopes will " serve, in 
a degree, to restrain some of the common vices of 
our country." 

Other early school histories of the United States 
which attained more or less circulation were Hale's, 
Taylor's, Olney's, and Peter Parley's, the last run- 
ning up into hundreds of editions. The study of 
history was not confined wholly to the story of our 
own nation. Several universal histories were pub- 
lished. Butler's, the earliest to be brought out, 
included, according to the title-page, " History, Sa- 
cred and Profane, from the Creation of the World, 
to the year 1818, of the Christian Era." It was 
very Biblical, the author's " first object through the 
whole work being to show the influence and impor- 




Punishment of a man from Bill erica;' who purchased a gun 
fro m^a Brit ish soldier in Boston, March, 1775. 

From Taylor's A Universal History of the United States, 1 830. 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 375 

tance of religion — to contrast particularly the reli- 
gion of Christ and his Apostles, with the religion of 




Capture of the Frolick, October 18, 1812. 

From Taylor's A Universal History of the United States- 



the Popes and Mahomet ; and to show that Martin 
Luther was the angel of the gospel for the age in 
which he lived, and will continue to be the angel of 
the gospel until the millennial day." The book is 
illustrated with a number of full-page copper-plate 
engravings. The one reproduced purports to be a 
representation of Moscow in flames. The flames 
are genuine enough, but the city, with its clap- 
boarded houses and slender church spires, bears a 



376 Old-time Schools and School-books 

suspicious resemblance to the American towns of 
the period. 

Of the other early Universal Histories I will only 
speak of that by Rev. Royal Robbins, published 
at Hartford in 1835. ^ te " s the scriptural story 



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Landing of Columbus. 
From Frost's /4 History 0/ the United States, 1837. 

of the Creation, "about 5829 years ago," and then 
mentions, " as a matter of curiosity," a few theories 
of philosophers and others which do not agree with 
the Bible narrative. I quote two of these theories 
and add a few paragraphs from subsequent pages of 
the book about Adam and Eve. 



The negroes of the Congo affirm that the world was 
made by the hands of angels, excepting their own coun- 
try, which the Supreme Being constructed himself; that 
he took great pains with the inhabitants, and made them 
very black and beautiful ; and when he had finished the 
first man, he was well pleased with him, and smoothed 
him over the face ; and hence his nose, and the noses of 
all his descendants became flat. 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 377 




"Conflagration of Moscow." 
From Butler's Sketches of Universal History, 1818. 

Darwin, an infidel, in accounting for the origin of the 
world, supposes that the mass of chaos suddenly exploded, 
like a barrel of gunpowder, and in that act exploded the 



378 Old-time Schools and School-books 

sun, which in its flight, by a similar convulsion, exploded 
the earth, which in like manner exploded the moon, and 
thus, by a chain of explosions, the whole solar system was 
produced and set in regular motion. 

Adam and Eve, the names of the first human pair, 
were placed by the Diety, in the garden of Eden. It is 
evident that Eden was east of Canaan ; but the most ex- 
travagant opinions have been entertained on this subject, 
and not only the four quarters of the globe, but even the 




Demosthenes declaiming upon the Sea-shore. 
From Whelpley"s Compend- of History, 1825. 



air and the moon, have been conjectured to include this 
delightful abode. 

The innocence and felicity of the first pair were of 
very short duration. They violated, with daring impiety, 
the sole command of their Maker. The precise time of 
this transaction cannot be determined ; but it was prob- 
ably only a few days after their creation. 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 379 

The story goes on until we come to the flood, 
which we are assured must have happened because, 
" In agreement with the universal voice of tradition, 
the surface of the earth, in various respects, indicates 
the occurrence of such a catastrophe. Its broken 
state, the disposition of its strata, and the remains 
of marine productions on the tops of the highest 
mountains, are no doubtful evidence on this subject." 

In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, 
not only did books multiply, but also the subjects 
included in the school curriculum. I have noted 
all the studies ordinarily taken up, but occasionally 




1 Labyrimhldon. 2 Dinotberium. 3 Birds. 

Frontispiece to Godding's First Lessons in Geology, 1 846. 



380 Old-time Schools and School-books 

others were introduced, such as botany, geology, 
natural philosophy, physiology, etc. Economics 
was even included in the curriculum of some schools. 
The most individual of early text-books dealing 
with this topic was The Young American by S. G. 
Goodrich, a simple and entertaining dissertation on 
" government and law; showing their history, nature, 
and necessity." It had the usual merits of " Peter 
Parley's" books, and without reaching any very 




Taking a thief to prison. 

From Goodrich's The Young American, 1842. 

superior or lasting excellence was easy of compre- 
hension and reasonably authoritative. The interest 
was much increased by numerous pictures. Another 
book, dealing with the more profound things of life, 
and yet nevertheless much in vogue in the old dis- 
trict schools, was The Improvement of the Mind by 
Isaac Watts. It was a lengthy disquisition on the 
acquiring of knowledge and character. The book 
was generally spoken of as "Watts on the Mind," 



Grammars, Histories, and Minor Text-books 381 

and the title was so printed on the back of the 
volume. To the younger scholars the title was a 
puzzle. They could understand having " watts " 
on the hand, or even "watts" on the nose; but to 
have " watts " on the mind did not seem possible. 

Neither this book nor the others concerned with 
advanced and special studies impressed themselves 
on the pupils as did the more elementary studies 
which have been particularly my theme. With few 
exceptions all the books showed narrowness and 
crudity, but time brought a steady improvement. 
By 1850 the formative period in the manufacture of 
school-books was over ; yet while the later books are 
much better than the old, they have not the pictu- 
resque interest and antiquarian charm that belong to 
beginnings, and they do not come within the scope 
of this record of Old-time Schools and School- 
books. 



The Land of Heather 

By CLIFTON JOHNSON 
Illustrated Crown 8vo Cloth Extra gilt top $2.00 net 

The latest addition to the author's foreign series of Highways and Byways — and 
destined to be one of the most popular; for there rs no country which appeals more 
forcibly to the imagination than Scotland. Its glens and hills, its woods and shrubby 
hollows, its noisy streams and mountain-girded lochs, have won the affection of the whole 
English-speaking race. Mr. Johnson's new book, through its sympathetic text and many 
beautiful pictures, brings the real Scotland vividly to the reader, not only in its varied 
landscape, but in the home life of the people. Scotch village life and the ways of the 
farm folk and cottagers have probably never been portrayed with more entertaining 
faithfulness. 



New England and its Neighbors 

By CLIFTON JOHNSON 
. With over 100 Illustrations by the Author 
Crown 8vo Cloth Gilt top $2.00 net 

" Mr. Johnson is a keen observer; he knows how to describe the scenes he visits and 
the people he meets. The student of American life outside of urban boundaries could 
not ask for a better guide." — Brooklyn Eagle. 

" A book that ranks with the best in the author's long list of entertaining and pictu- 
resque works. Every phase of the New Englander's existence is touched, and one feels 
he is listening to a sympathetic interpreter of things. Mr. Johnson's literary style is 
direct, and his word-pictures vivid. The result is a book that will doubtless give long 
delight." — Deliver Republican. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



AMONG ENGLISH HEDGEROWS 

By CLIFTON JOHNSON 

With an Introduction by HAMILTON IV. MABIE 

Illustrated. Cr. 8vo. Cloth extra. Gilt top. $2.25 

"'Among English Hedgerows' is one of the most beautiful of illus 
trated books, containing, as it does, a great number of half-tone repro- 
ductions of Mr. Johnson's admirable photographs. 

"The author, as far as possible, lived the life of the people who figure in 
these pages, and we have delightful accounts of village characters, and 
glimpses of quaint old English homes. 

" Hamilton W. Mabie, who furnishes the introduction, well summarizes 
Mr. Johnson's merits as ' a friendly eye, a hearty sympathy, and a very 
intelligent camera, and that love of his field and of his subject which is 
the prime characteristic of the successful painter of rural life and country 
folk.' " — Illustrated Buffalo Express. 



ALONG FRENCH BYWAYS 

By CLIFTON JOHNSON 

Illustrated. Cr. 8vo. Cloth extra. Gilt top. $2.25 

"A book of leisurely strolling through one of the most picturesque 
countries of Europe, enlivened with description and anecdote, and pro. 
fusely illustrated. . . . Mr. Johnson is not only a delightful writer, but is 
one of the best landscape photographers of whom we have knowledge." — ■ 
Boston Transcript. 

"This book shares the merits of Mr. Johnson's 'Among English Hedge- 
rows' : simplicity of theme and treatment, sympathy and love of nature." 
— The Mail and Express. 

"A book of strolling, a book of nature, a book of humble peasant life 
intermingled with the chance experiences of the narrator." — The Worcester 

spy. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE. NEW YORK 



The Isle of the Shamrock 

By Clifton Johnson 

Author of "Among English Hedgerows," "Along French Byways," etc. 
Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Gilt top. Boxed, $2.00 net 



" One of the most informing books about Ireland and the conditions 
of the Irish folk in the country and small towns that has been pub- 
lished in a long time. ' ' — Brooklyn Eagle. 
" Deserves to be read and remembered." 

— Louisville Courier-Journal. 
"For more kindly appreciation no people could ask." 

■ — Chicago Tribune. 
"A most interesting book, full of sketches and anecdotes." 

- — ■ London Daily News. 



Don Quixote 

By Miguel De Cervantes 
Edited by Clifton Johnson 

For School and Home Reading 

With Ten Illustrations by George Cruikshank. Cloth. i2mo. 75 cents 



" An admirable piece of editing has been done by Clifton Johnson. 
He has omitted the obnoxious portions and many of the unpleasant 
details which made the original objectionable. The result is a pleas- 
ant, readable story, in every way wholesome and attractive." 

— The Chautauquan. 

The Macmillan Company 
66 Fifth Avenue, - New York 



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